


It Feels Different When You’re With Me

by Rearviewdreamer



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: British Sign Language, Deaf Louis, M/M, Sign Language, Sign language instructor Harry, Slow Burn, hearing harry, other deaf characters, things I write for my own entertainment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:59:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23294368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rearviewdreamer/pseuds/Rearviewdreamer
Summary: Harry fell in love with sign language as a kid. He never imagined the first love of his life would lead him straight to his second.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 383
Kudos: 931





	1. Chapter 1

No matter the time of day or night or how kind the nurses are, for the past forty-eight hours, Louis has had a sense of dread each time he hears his hospital door creak open. For two days it’s been nothing but tests and scans and IV drips of pain meds strong enough to numb the throbbing of his head and left ankle, but not quite strong enough to erase the memory of him getting injured so badly. He never even got to meet his friends for drinks the night of the accident because not even five minutes after he’d stepped out of his flat, he found himself lying bloody and bulldozed in the middle of a crosswalk by some idiot who hadn’t realize the traffic light had gone red.

Louis’ memories are blurry after that, and understandably so since he was unconscious by the time the ambulance arrived. Or so he was told by his mother who has been by his side since the moment he was admitted. From then on, it’s just been a bunch of poking and prodding, restless sleep, and a scratchy hospital gown Louis would take off and burn if he could.

It’s been a never-ending nightmare that may be stopping today because when his door creaks open this time, it’s one of the nurses coming to hand him his hospital discharge paperwork. He groggily blinks down at the thick stack of papers in his hand with a sense of relief. They mean he’s finally free to go, but the nausea from his concussion makes it hard to read through everything, so his mother graciously takes them instead.

He shouldn’t be home alone right now so his mother comes with him, temporarily leaving Louis’ siblings in the care of his eldest sister until he starts to feel better. Louis wonders when that might be exactly because at the moment, he feels like shit.

He’s in constant pain between his ankle being fractured in two places and his ribs being bruised seemingly everywhere. The severe concussion he suffered just multiplies his level of discomfort because he still feels a bit disoriented at times. However, even though he currently feels worse than he’s ever felt in his twenty-seven years of life, he’ll take the pain and all his injuries over the alternative, which very well could’ve been death.

Climbing his building’s three flights of stairs in an ankle boot isn’t easy. Neither is changing out of his discharge outfit to finally pull on his favorite joggers and an old t-shirt while trying not to further agitate his ribs. His mother forces him to eat something so he can take his pain medication without being sick. The pills numb his pain and make him sleepy which is a welcome gift after the extreme effort of just making it home today. He tries not to think about anything as he’s tucked into his own bed; not the huge scar he’s bound to have across his temple, the intense pressure he feels in every inch of his head as a result, or the fact that he’ll probably be out of work for the rest of this week and maybe even the next. None of it matters as he drifts off, least of all the slight yet persistent ringing in his ears that fades the moment the drugs pull him under.

He sleeps on and off for what seems like years, only getting up to eat when his mother makes him, or to hobble to his bathroom. His dreams are restless and make little sense, but he’s never awake long enough to interpret them before he’s swallowing down a couple more pills and drifting off again. He spends days like that; somewhere between consciousness and oblivion so that when he finally wakes for good, he feels like he was hit by a truck, or a Volkswagen if he remembers correctly. Either way, it’s much better than feeling so weak he could hardly keep his eyes open.

His muscles scream in protest as he sits up in bed and stretches for the first time in almost a week. There are vases of get-well-soon flowers on and around the bedside table along with his cracked phone that’s probably flooded with messages from friends and co-workers. Eventually, he'll get around to responding to everyone and letting them know he’s alright, and he’ll buy a new phone. For now, Louis’ focus is on peeing because his bladder is screaming at him for not being emptied in close to twelve hours.

Louis’ head feels triple its size and weight as he limps to the toilet. Putting weight on his ankle hurts less than it did when he’d first fractured it so he’s happy about that. Maybe in a couple of days he won’t need the boot at all.

His head is a different story though. Louis forgot he even had a head injury until he leaves the bathroom and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror hanging on the door of his wardrobe. The thick white bandages are a bit of a shock. He doesn’t even remember when they were first applied. He had no desire to see himself each time the nurses came to change them out either so he hasn’t really seen himself in a while. His mother who is a nurse herself must have kept up with cleaning his stitches because there’s hardly any blood when Louis carefully peels back the gauze and tape to reveal an angry red scar running from the top of his hairline across his right temple. After all the fuss it has caused, it’s not as big as he was expecting. When he was hit, he fell hard though so he’s lucky a concussion was the only damage he sustained. 

He isn’t expecting the gentle hand on his shoulder when his mother manages to sneak up behind him and scare the shit out of him. She was so quiet Louis forgot she was even here, grinning at her in the mirror and laughing at himself from how quickly his heart-rate spiked from her touch. Honestly, it’s just payback from all the times he got a laugh from scaring her when he was young, but he soon stops finding their reversal of roles so funny when he notices how pale and frightened his mother’s face has gone.

“What?” he asks when he turns from the mirror to meet her wide eyes. They only grow more fearful as she continues blinking at him like he’s just said something in Greek. “Mum, what? Why are you looking at me like that?” He only realizes once his mother’s mouth starts moving with hardly any sound that no sound accompanied his own questions either. Everything he just said sounded like it came through several concrete walls underwater. And, now that he’s paying attention, he notices there’s no discernable sounds coming from anything at all. Not from the open window to his left where the afternoon traffic should be deafening, or the building’s pipes that grumble every time one of his neighbors so much as brushes their teeth. Even the slight ringing in his ears from the day he came home has miraculously stopped, but then, so has everything else.

His mother moves closer and says something again, but no matter how hard Louis strains his ears, he can’t hear it. Louis tries to say something back and gets the same horrifying result each time he opens his mouth, causing his throat to sting with tears building up in his eyes. His mother was able to sneak up on him like that because he didn’t hear her approaching. He flushed the toilet just a few minutes prior, but he was so preoccupied with assessing his injuries that he didn’t notice the toilet made hardly any noise.

Louis keeps opening his mouth and forcing out air and what should be sound, but no matter how hard he tries, only a pitiful, muffled noise comes out. He isn’t hearing anything. He _can’t_ hear anything including himself, the terrifying realization rising up like bile. Instead, Louis is forced to only watch as his mother rushes them out of the flat and back to the hospital where Louis is subjected to more tests and scans than he can keep track of for days on end.

When it’s all over, Louis doesn’t even need his team of specialists and doctors to write down his diagnosis so he can understand it. He knows it’s bad from the way his mother and sisters are silently sobbing around him like they just lost something extremely dear; almost as if they just lost Louis himself. He’s convinced this is all some drug-induced horrible nightmare he’s stuck in. It _has_ to be. And yet, he can’t wake up from it. The panic really settles in once Louis realizes, he probably never will.

~*~

_Six Months and Three Days Later_

The annoying, high-pitched song that blares from Harry’s phone every morning is never a particularly pleasant way to wake up, especially on Mondays like today happens to be. After shutting up his phone by accidentally slapping it to the ground, he usually spends a couple of minutes groaning and frowning and whining into his pillow about having to get up long before he’s ready. It’s an important phase in the process of dragging himself out of bed to go start his day. Today, his wallowing is cut short by a text message he has to hang half-way off the edge of the bed to read.

‘ _Get up, loser, we’re getting coffee.’_

There are only a handful of people who can instantly take Harry’s mood from zero to one-hundred, even first thing on a Monday morning. His big sister, Gemma, is the one of those few people, possessing the power to make Harry smile with nothing but the promise of caffeine and a Mean Girls reference.

‘ _Meet you in thirty!_ ’ he sends back.

Forty minutes later, Harry arrives at his and his sister’s go-to morning coffee spot. As per usual, Gemma has beat him there, fondly shaking her head at him when she looks up from her phone and sees him fumbling to tuck his phone and earbuds into the side pocket of his backpack.

“ _You’re late again_ ,” she signs, tapping her middle and index fingers together extra hard on the ‘ _late_ ’ for extra emphasis.

“ _Nah_. _I think you’re just early_ ,” Harry signs back only for his sister to fix him with a flat expression that doesn’t need any accompanying signs for Harry to get the message. By now, he’s practically an expert in interpreting his sister’s infamous looks. This one is just a precursor to a playful, and admittedly well-earned pinch of Harry’s arm. “OW,” he complains aloud. Gemma can’t hear it, and yet she still snorts a laugh as she leads the way inside the coffee shop.

They’re only able to stay for a few minutes. Just long enough for Gemma to catch him up on her weekend spent in the country with her boyfriend where she just so happened to take some of the best photographs of her career thus far. Harry catches Gemma up on his life too; a weekend spent binging a new baking show and ruining his oven trying out recipes. His weekend wasn’t anywhere near as exciting as Gemma’s big getaway, but she pretends it is. She argues that getting to lick batter off spoons is at the top of the list of the best things a person can ever do.

That’s about the extent of their chat before they’re forced to part ways. Gemma hugs him goodbye and promises to text him later. She grabs her camera bag to go meet her first client of the day while Harry grabs the remainder of his latte, goes back to listening to his upbeat Monday morning playlist, and continues on to work too.

It doesn’t take him long to get there. It seems like an even shorter trip with Cyndi Lauper singing all of her best hits. Before he knows it, he’s standing before the learning center for the deaf and hard of hearing. The place where Harry happily spends the majority of his days.

The door of the old brick building always creaks whenever it opens. Most staff members and students who venture inside the learning center never notice the aged groan of metal and wood that Harry has come to love because they aren’t able to hear it.

Most everyone here is alerted to someone entering the building either by seeing the quick swing of the door or the motion-activated light above it that flashes twice for every visitor. Harry isn’t really a visitor since he’s been teaching here for nearly a year, but he had been a regular here long before then.

Every person he passes on his way to his classroom smiles and signs hello just as friendly as they did the first time he set foot in this center back when he was just a three-year-old kid struggling to learn to speak and sign all at once. He had grown so frustrated as a child that he was hesitant to communicate with anyone in any language from fear of getting it wrong or being misunderstood. But, the teachers here were so patient and encouraging and amazing with him that soon, Harry couldn’t shut up. And because his experience was so incredible and made such an impact on him, his relationship with his deaf sister, and his life, all Harry ever wanted was to help other people in the same way; specifically, struggling kids like him. A year ago, Harry got to fulfil his dream and now he works with deaf and hearing kids all day of varying levels of fluency. Some of his students are beginners and some just need a bit of a push to feel confident, but Harry adores them all.

As much as Monday mornings suck purely on the basis of being Monday morning, Harry can never seem to hate them for long, especially not after his first students of the week arrive. One of them is Adelaide. She’s five years old and hard of hearing, loves sea turtles, and generally hates signing but she’ll practice in exchange for reading one of the dozen sea turtle picture books Harry ran around half the city to find. She’ll blow through them all in no time, and when that happens, he’ll need to locate more. But, according to her parents, Adelaide is becoming less and less hesitant to sign at home these days. In a few weeks’ time, she probably won’t even need sea turtle bribes anymore because it’ll start being second nature.

Adelaide isn’t the only student Harry looks forward to seeing on Mondays. There’s also Benjamin who was born deaf six years ago and signs as well as any adult when he remembers to slow down so people can actually understand what he’s signing. He gets frustrated with having to repeat himself to friends and family and eventually just gives up, but communicating has gotten much easier for him after nearly three months of working on his pacing.

Harry teaches all sorts of students throughout the week; some more than once, some one-on-one, and some in small groups if they’re all working on similar skills; particularly if they’re just starting to sign. His days consist of laughing at kid jokes and chatting with them about all the things they love like sea turtles and super heroes and debating if aliens really do exist. It’s the same stuff he used to talk about with his sister when they were little which makes his job not even feel like work most of the time. 

His day starts coming to an end around four o’clock after his last students are picked up by their parents. Harry’s classroom is always in complete disarray compared to how pristine it is before half a dozen kids have run through it, so he spends a few minutes tidying up. Once his classroom looks presentable again, he sits down at his desk to type up student progress notes and set more goals for each of them.

He’s just about finished when he realizes he hasn’t had time to check his email since morning between students and lunch with Niall who teaches in the classroom above him. There are only two new messages. The first is from the director informing everyone about community and family events happening over the next couple of weeks. The second is a high priority message from admin director informing Harry about the new student he’s getting.

It’s not really a surprise since a couple of Harry’s students recently met all their goals and finished their time with him. Harry expected an extra kid or two to fill the empty slots in his schedule. Opening the new student’s file is a surprise, or most likely a _mistake_ , because it’s not a kid. It’s a man named Louis Tomlinson.

Clicking through Louis’ file only gives Harry a few details, so he emails the admin office back to find out more. Also, to find out which teacher Louis is _actually_ placed with. As it turns out, the person Louis is supposed to be placed with is him. His new student is twenty-seven years old with trauma induced adult on-set deafness. Meaning, he has lived his whole life in the hearing world, and then suddenly six months ago, everything changed.

Louis has never signed before and he doesn’t really read lips either because he’s never had to. Effective communication or any kind of communication must feel nearly impossible to Louis. He’ll literally be learning a second language from scratch and that isn’t easy. At the moment, none of the other teachers here who work with adults have space in their schedules for such intensive one-on-one instruction, which leaves just one other instructor as a possibility.

Harry reads through everything and sits back in his seat with a heavy heart. His sister was born deaf, so it has been a part of who she is her whole life. He can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for everything this man has ever known and identified with to be ripped away and replaced with the unknown. He can’t imagine the loneliness he must feel on a daily basis being cut off from everyone; deaf and hearing alike. In Harry’s opinion, connection is what makes us human. A life without it just isn’t much of one.

There’s no rule that says Harry is limited to only teaching kids. They just so happen to be the people that Harry is best at helping build confidence. That’s something Louis is sure to need now that he’s being forced to adjust to a new normal. The least Harry can do is try to help get him there.

*

The next morning, his sister tries baiting him with coffee again. Harry politely declines her offer since he’s seeing Louis first thing. Anyway, he’s already nervous enough about meeting his new student. Caffeine would just make it worse.

By the time he arrives at work he’s a bit calmer, reminding himself that he _can_ do this. He is fully capable of providing someone like Louis with the kind of support he needs. Everyone in the admin office must think so too, otherwise they would’ve referred Louis somewhere else.

Harry’s always a little crazy before meeting a new student, but he starts to feel particularly antsy once the clock strikes eight and dozens of people enter the building and head to their regularly scheduled lessons. He expects the director to walk in any moment with Louis in tow or perhaps even another teacher who spotted a new face in the corridors, but nothing happens.

Nothing happens for several minutes afterwards meaning Louis is running late. Or, worst-case scenario is he’s running literally. As in, _away_ from this place. Harry can’t even judge Louis if he did get spooked because if Harry had the year that Louis has had, he’d probably avoid all of this too. After all, who wants to restart their entire life?

The longer Harry thinks about it, the less convinced he is that Louis will show. He’s working again according to his file, so maybe he bypassed the learning center altogether and went there instead. He has just about lost all hope of Louis showing up when he hears a long sigh coming from the corridor. Now that Harry’s paying attention, there’s also someone standing out there, but only a fraction of their shadow is visible outside the classroom door.

“Hello?” Harry calls loud enough for anyone of their staff or students with partial hearing to be able to pick up. He gets no response, so he walks toward the place where the sigh came from instead, noticing the sound of a quick-paced tapping as well with every step he takes.

He pokes his head into the corridor and finds someone there just as he suspected, a man whose phone clatters to the floor and blue eyes widen to probably twice their usual size due to Harry accidentally scaring him half to death.

“ _I’m so sorry_. _Are you alright?_ ”

Harry instinctively signs the apology before immediately bending down to pick up the phone that thankfully didn’t shatter. It’s only after he catches sight of a greeting open in the notes app that reads ‘ _Hi_ , _I’m Louis. So sorry I’m late_ ,’ that he remembers his signing holds no meaning for the startled person standing frozen before him.

Louis hasn’t replied or acknowledged his apology, but that’s probably because he doesn’t know Harry gave one. Harry rereads the short message, this time noticing a series of potential questions and replies Louis may need throughout his day listed below it. It’s impressive and also incredibly heartbreaking knowing Louis spends all of his time trying to think twenty steps ahead; anticipating every tiny interaction he may have so he can successfully communicate with other people. It must be so exhausting. There are even a dozen questions listed out for Harry specifically. The sheer amount of effort that takes is probably what caused the deep, weary sigh that first alerted Harry that someone was out here.

The notes app on Louis’ phone has been his lifeline for months so it’s understandable he seems less on edge when Harry hands it back to him. The appreciative little lift of the corner of his mouth isn’t a sign or verbal thank you, but Harry gets the message all the same. Harry grins back a ‘you’re welcome’ forcing his eyes to stay on Louis’ when he raises a hand to move his fringe out of his eyes, revealing a healed, yet fairly recent scar over his right temple.

Harry knows very little about Louis and his situation; only that his sudden deafness was the result of some sort of trauma. His scar is probably evidence of what was sure to have been one of the worst experiences of his life. He definitely doesn’t need Harry gawking at his scar to remind him of it. He probably gets enough of that from strangers.

They stand there for several seconds more just watching each other; Harry sensing the nerves and anxiety rolling off of his new student in waves as he warily looks to Harry for cues of what’s going to happen next.

There are some things to address here. Like why Louis chose to bypass the office where someone would have escorted him like all new students. Or why his blue eyes have so much fear behind them when Harry gently pries the phone from his tight grip. Harry can understand him being hesitant about relinquishing one of the only ties he has to the world at the moment. But, he’s here today with Harry to start discovering a different world where he doesn’t need anything but a pair of hands to communicate. Now is as good of a time as any to dive in so Harry carefully places the phone in his right pocket for temporary safe keeping.

Louis’ eyebrows scrunch together with a deep frown, however his expression soon relaxes and becomes curious as Harry signs something to him.

It was at a normal pace but still way too fast, especially for someone who isn’t used to signing. He’ll need to break it down at half-speed or even slower so Harry points at his own eyes and then repeats each sign, starting with a wide wave with his right hand for hello. Next Harry gives a small salute with his index and middle finger, points at himself, and then individually finger spells ‘ _H’, ‘A’, ‘R’, ‘R’, ‘Y’_ , all with a big, friendly smile. He repeats the signs for a third time, making sure to mouth the words ‘ _Hello. My name is Harry_ ,’ so Louis can get in some practice with lipreading too and seeing how the two work together.

Louis’ eyes carefully follow each movement. They widen dramatically when the signs and mouthing all stop on Harry’s end, and suddenly Harry is pointing at him to sign it back.

He goes still and slightly pale even though he is perfectly capable of introducing himself this way. It’s nothing but a fancy mirroring game which is why Harry uses it with his young students when they’re first starting out. It usually takes them a while to do it without mistakes, but Harry isn’t looking for perfection here. All he wants is to put his newest student at ease by showing him the signing world isn’t as scary as he thinks; that he belongs here, even if right now he feels like he doesn’t.

For several seconds Louis does nothing. Harry half-expects him to run back down the corridor and out the front door. Eventually though, he surrenders with an annoyed eye roll that Harry finds quite amusing. Louis releases a long sigh before bravely moving his right arm and hand in the same rainbow shape that Harry showed him. He pauses before he does the little salute and points at himself, his cheeks going red as he realizes he’s gotten to the hardest part of the whole greeting; his name. Harry doesn’t leave him hanging though, grinning as he holds up his hands and slowly spells it out while Louis shakily signs along.

They repeat the same letters over and over. Once he’s pretty much gotten the hang of it, Harry points to him again, unable to contain his grin when Louis starts from the top and introduces himself for the first time in his new language. And, no, it wasn’t perfect. But, it was a start.

Even Louis looks visibly proud of himself, though he’s still blushing a little. Harry gets it. This is all new and strange and scary. No part of this will be easy for Louis, but that doesn’t matter. Nothing matters right now beyond the tiniest hint of relief on Louis’ face as he realizes he may actually be able to do this.


	2. Chapter 2

_Two Days Later_

There’s no way he can fucking do this. He thought he could just return to his old life and his old _job_. He thought that maybe he was finally ready to come back; to restart, but people who are ready to face something they’ve been avoiding for months don’t typically have to hide in the disabled toilet in the storage area of the building just to take a moment for himself and fucking breathe.

Hardly anyone in the museum uses this toilet because this floor is off limits to visitors and too far away for most employees to bother. That makes it the perfect place for Louis to avoid virtually everyone. There are no crowds in here or people giving him _that_ look when they start talking to him like he’s normal and then they realize. Mostly there’s nobody here to judge him for being naïve enough to think he could just come back here. As if nothing has happened and as if nothing has changed.

So much is different that Louis can’t even keep track of it all.

Before his accident, Louis worked here at the children’s science museum as a receptionist which is ironic to say the least since communication isn’t really his best skill anymore. Officially, he handled all the museum traffic from email inquiries to phone calls, and he scheduled daily tours. Unofficially, he was the go-to person for museum visitors to hang out with and flip through pamphlets, or the hub for lost kids to wait until their parents found them, and he loved it. After the accident, Louis figured he could kiss all of that goodbye. He’d lost his hearing, so he expected to lose his job too on the basis of the ability to hear being pretty critical. He needs to hear to talk to people and to take calls which is probably why he was told not to bother with the phones. There was also the fact that it took Louis so long to come to terms with being deaf that he refused to even think about work for months. He hadn’t realized the option to come back even existed, but luckily, his boss and co-workers didn’t give up on him. The museum kept its doors open to Louis, and he isn’t an idiot so he knew that whenever he did decide to return, it would be hard. He just didn’t think it would feel fucking impossible every second of every day.

He’s not sure how long he’s been hiding in the toilet. Surely, much longer than his twenty-minute break allows. He knows his guess is correct when he lifts his face from his palms and sees a hand with fresh electric blue nails wiggling beneath the door to get his attention. Bebe has been his friend since they both started working here two years ago. She’s one of the tour guides and she’s so much fun that groups request her as their guide the most. She’s always been so great to talk to and they’re both children at heart so they love the wild, chaotic energy of a kid’s museum. Or, at least they did. Louis used to love it here. Now, he gets so overwhelmed from a few emails and field trip groups running around that he’d rather sit inside an empty toilet stall than face them.

He can’t hide forever though, so even though he doesn’t want to, he reaches up and unlocks the stall to find Bebe smiling at him on the other side of it.

This is the part where usually Louis would quip something witty about Bebe being a worried old mum and then Bebe would quip something back about Louis being a worrisome prick. Instead, Louis grins back at her to let her know he’s alright and allows her to pull him up from the bathroom tile.

She raises her eyebrows in a _‘Sorry the place is chaos today,_ ’ apology, while Louis gives a half-shrug because it’s not her fault. It’s not anyone’s fault really. The only person to blame for all of this is the distracted idiot who hit him with a fucking car. But he learned long ago that playing the blame game won’t solve anything. It is what it is.

Louis goes back down to the welcome desk, but not before being wrapped in a super tight Bebe hug that feels like ‘ _Everything’s going to be okay. And even if it isn’t, I’m here,_ ’ even without her saying it out loud. He gets a text from her five minutes later than confirms his guess. The text also makes him smile because he and Bebe are getting pretty good at their silent pep talks. It would be better if they could actually talk or at least get by with some version of talking. Really, he’d love to be able to communicate with everyone in his life. That’s one of the reasons Louis is willing to try these signing lessons that he doesn’t really want to do, but it seems he’s going to have to if he wants any semblance of a normal life. His family would sign if he asked them to, however there’s no point making them go through the imposition of learning a new language unless Louis is willing to do it himself.

His doctors tried to set him up with lessons six months ago when all this started but Louis wasn’t anywhere near ready. Physically and mentally, he was exhausted. Emotionally, he was practically broken, but he’s feeling better now. He has accepted his new life for what it is. Or at least, he’s accepted it as much as can be expected with such shitty circumstances. Forward steps only. No looking back.

Miraculously, Louis makes it through his work day, though not without a few more disappearance acts upstairs when things started to feel like too much. In the end, he had a set of lost twins who had wandered up to his desk and a dad who was even more terrified because he’d obviously been looking for his daughters for quite a while. The twins were too young to read Louis’ note that told them not to worry because he’d just paged his boss to locate their parent. Once the parent was successfully located, he ran up to the welcome desk and couldn’t stop talking _at_ Louis long enough to realize why he wasn’t getting answers to his many questions. Thankfully, Louis’ boss caught up to the man and handled the situation by explaining that Louis wasn’t intentionally ignoring him. Louis knows that’s what was said because the dad’s face suddenly turned red and remorseful in a way that’s all too familiar to Louis these days. Louis is usually shit at reading lips because people are always overexaggerating their words at him and they don’t face Louis head-on, however the embarrassed ‘ _I’m so sorry_ ’ the man directed at Louis was unmistakable.

That situation definitely didn’t go as smoothly as it could have. Louis can entertain lost kids for fifteen minutes until someone comes to get them. He is also more than capable of reassuring worried parents who just want to know if their child was hurt or injured. He knows what to do and say in those situations, but lately he causes more confusion than anything else. These days, the hearing world just makes him feel so stupid. And then there are the signing lessons which aren’t much better because he’s pretty useless there too. He’s out of place even amongst the deaf. A center for people who can’t hear is where he should feel the _most_ comfortable, but he doesn’t.

He wanted to give signing a proper try even though it’s difficult as hell, he feels like an idiot doing it, and secretly he thinks the lessons are a horrible idea. Granted, he’s only had one lesson so far and it was half a lesson at that because he was late getting there. However, even as late as he was and as dumb as he feels, he likes that his instructor was cool about it. He likes that his instructor is trying and that he seems pretty patient and nice too. He’s also not bad to look at, which has nothing to do with Louis learning to sign, but it is a bonus.

Most of Louis’ teachers in school were carbon copies of one another so Louis was expecting his signing instructor to be about the same; a woman with salt-and-pepper hair and a patient smile. Harry is no old lady. And it shouldn’t matter they’re close in age or that Harry has the brightest and most welcoming green eyes Louis has ever seen. But, it _does_ matter to him because Louis feels like he could actually talk to Harry. Or, you know, _sign_ to Harry. Whatever.

Louis’ probably months away from being able to hold a real conversation with anybody without his phone, and the two of them may not have a single thing in common, but he’d like to chat with _someone_ without having his phone do it for him _._

Getting home is a much easier task than anything else Louis has tried doing today. When he had his own place, work was only a fifteen-minute walk. But, since he wasn’t working for so long and his whole life had been upended, he decided to move back home with his family six months ago. That means his walk home is now more than twice its usual length, however a major consolation is getting to pass by his favorite Chinese restaurant on the way.

He’s hungry after such a long day and a long walk. He’s sure his mother will be busy getting dinner on the table in a couple of hours, but he’d really like a snack to hold him over. More specifically, he’d like a couple of the eggrolls he loves. And maybe some orange chicken and rice for lunch tomorrow. And perhaps a few fortune cookies as well.

He types out his order on his phone even though everyone at the restaurant pretty much has it memorized by now. All he has to do is walk up to the ordering station and the woman working there rings him up for his usual. And it’s a good thing too, because it seems everyone in the city had the same idea as Louis and decided on Noodle Palace for dinner. It’s a madhouse. Louis and everyone else are packed in while they wait for their food, but everything is going pretty smoothly. That is until Louis is suddenly shoved out of the way by an angry-looking man grumbling something rude from the looks of it. It takes Louis a moment to realize the man is shouting at _him_.

All Louis has done is pay for his meal and then catch up on his missed texts while he waits. There’s only so much room in the tiny building but Louis moves as far out of the man’s way as possible to avoid upsetting him further. The man places the order that he’s in such a rush to get. The cashier puts in the order and also informs the man that Louis is deaf and probably didn’t notice him rushing into the restaurant. Louis knows she said that because he’s immediately given _that_ look again; the look that says this man is more embarrassed than he is sorry which is typical of dickheads like him. It’s people like that man and the parent from the museum that make Louis wish he could hear again so he could tell them to fuck off. It’s people like them that make Louis glad that he barely interacts with people anymore because they can be so exhausting. Even when Louis had the privilege of being able to hear, he would have never treated a deaf person the way some people treat him. At least, he hopes he wouldn’t have.

Today has been rough. It was his fifth not-so-successful day back at work where people kept forgetting to not forward him any phone calls, he didn’t talk to anyone, he got yelled at by a parent, _and_ a dickhead in Noodle Palace who Louis suspects didn’t learn a thing from their interaction. Just a few short months ago, a day like today would’ve had Louis crying tears of frustration for days and not wanting to leave the house. He’s annoyed by trying to navigate the hearing world and failing at it every day. And, he hates people who look at him like his deafness is some disease they can catch, but his skin has gotten much thicker. That’s one of the reasons he wanted to go back to work. And, it’s the reason he wants to try learning to sign even if he’s terrible at it. Looking silly and ridiculous while learning a new language has to be better than what he’s been feeling these past six months when he was so bitter and in denial about being deaf that he refused all the help he was offered; counselors, signing lessons, interpreters, a hearing dog; _everything_.

He doesn’t want to do that anymore though. He wants to try accepting help rather than avoiding it, because he needs it and pretending like this is going to go away only hurts himself. Louis has spent a lot of time being angry and sad and angry again. Now, he just wants to try and be himself, or as much of himself as he can get back.

*

“What’s up with you?”

“ _Nothing_ ,” Harry signs at his friend standing in the doorway of his classroom. His friend who should be up in his own classroom instead of annoying him.

“Doesn’t look like nothing. You look stressed,” Niall maintains, though Harry can hardly hear him from where his head is stuck in his messy supply closet.

 _“Well. I’m not,”_ he signs, or attempts to sign as he looks for the charger for the tablet he uses for beginner lessons. He misplaced it sometime during the week which could be problematic for his and Louis’ hour and a half session. Harry has a giant computer monitor where he displays all the words and phrases he’s going to teach for the day while his students type questions on the tablet. Louis is more comfortable typing things on his phone than the tablet anyway, so it’s probably not _that_ important. But, he’d still like to have it as an option for him just in case.

“Yeah?” Niall snickers. “You just checked the clock three times.”

“ _I did not_ ,” Harry replies just as he consults the clock for a fourth time, proving Niall’s point.

“Oh, really? Perhaps I’m blind now as well as deaf. Who knew?” his friend teases.

Harry sighs, finally forced to stop rummaging through his classroom. He is a little tense. But, it’s only because he has a lot to do and not nearly enough time to do it in.

“ _Is this about your new student?”_ Niall asks, back to signing along with his words. “ _You’re an amazing teacher, Haz. What’s got you so worried?”_

He’s _not_ worried. Or maybe he is a bit. Typically, Harry is always a bit nervous before starting to work with a new student, and Louis is so unlike his other students. He has never worked with anyone like him before. Also, Louis isn’t a child so if this doesn’t go well, he can’t just pull funny faces to win Louis over or bribe him with animal books and sparkly pencils.

“ _I don’t want to fail him_ ,” Harry admits. “ _I can’t fuck this up.”_

“You won’t,” Niall assures him. “At the end of the day, he’s just another student. He isn’t some big scary monster.”

No, he isn’t. He’s shy from what Harry remembers, and actually quite petite. He’s also currently standing in the doorway right behind Niall. The immediate, oversized smile Harry sports alerts Niall that they’re no longer alone. As soon as Niall turns and sees him, he glances back over his shoulder to fix Harry with a knowing shit-eating smirk that Harry has done nothing to deserve. At least nothing he’s aware of.

“ _Hi, I’m Niall_. _Welcome,_ ” he signs noticeably slower than his usual pace. It’s slow enough for Louis to follow and process and realize he doesn’t need his phone to reply.

Louis locks eyes with Harry standing behind Niall, slipping his phone into his back pocket after he’s given a nod of encouragement. Next, he repeats the greeting he learned three days ago at his first ever signing lesson. It’s much faster and natural than it was on Tuesday, and there are no visible mistakes which can only mean one glorious thing; he’s been _practicing_.

He doesn’t know how to sign much else beyond that, which is obvious from the apprehension written all over his face. Thankfully, Niall picks up on it and he doesn’t push. He politely nods at Louis on his way out of Harry’s classroom instead, unable to resist the urge to look between the two of them and wiggle his eyebrows while Louis isn’t looking.

“ _Have fun_ ,” he signs, cackling down the corridor when Harry responds with a swift, _“Fuck off_ ” he signs without really thinking it through.

Just as Harry suspected, Louis _was_ looking that time. He hopes against hope that he doesn’t know that sign. All they’ve really gone over together is initial introductions, however, the word for fuck must be more recognizable than Harry thought because Louis blinks in surprise of the rude gesture.

Harry winces in apology because he’s failing at this already and his student has barely made it out of the bloody corridor. At least, Harry thought he was failing, but maybe not considering his student’s tiny amused smirk from having picked up on his choice words for his friend. Clearly, his newest student is very familiar with swearing, so at the very least, they have that in common.

It’s not exactly professional, but Harry can’t help but crack a grin as well.

Harry apologizes, mouthing the word sorry as he moves his fist in a circular motion over the middle of his chest. Louis doesn’t sign anything back, so Harry walks over to the computer monitor and types the apology to make sure Louis got it. That wasn’t in the lesson plan for the day, but Louis’ shrug is proof that he’s not at all bothered by the profanity or learning an impromptu sign.

That’s great news as Harry sits down in one of the chairs in the middle of the room. He slowly signs something to Louis next and then waits patiently to see if he will remember them from last time. It takes Louis a few seconds of think time and a couple of perplexed expressions, but eventually, he glances at the empty seat in front of Harry, sporting a tiny grin of victory when Harry nods in answer to his silent question.

They start with the basics again, reviewing the alphabet and how to finger spell simple places and names. It’s slow work, but there’s definitely progress being made. Louis’ ability to retain what he’s learning is much greater than Harry’s other students. It usually takes them weeks to be able to string together signs to make simple sentences, but Louis has picked up a lot in just a couple of sessions. It helps that he’s obviously been practicing since Harry last saw him. If he keeps this up, he could be fluent in a matter of months rather than the year or more Harry anticipated.

He’s trying hard; harder than anyone Harry’s ever seen as he pushes through all the mistakes and blunders that are inevitable at this stage of signing. They’ve been at it for nearly an hour with no breaks which is much too long in Harry’s opinion. His younger students can tolerate about ten minutes before they’re running through the room in revolt. Louis doesn’t do that of course. He simply leans back in his seat with a tired sigh when Harry stops giving him signs to mirror. This is usually the moment he pulls out the sea turtle books or looks up how-to videos for glow in the dark slime. Harry is pretty sure Louis isn’t into either of those activities for a brain break. Currently, he looks tired and bored out of his mind, but Harry knows something that might cheer him up.

The tablet Harry dug out of his closet this morning has been sitting on the table next to them this whole time but neither of them has reached for it. When Louis has questions, he prefers using his phone so Harry decides to meet him halfway. Louis raises an eyebrow when Harry gestures at the phone sticking out of Louis’ jacket hanging on the back of his chair. He unlocks it and places it in Harry’s outstretched hand, a curious little crease forming between his brows as Harry swipes through pages of apps to find the one he wants.

 _‘Knock knock,’_ he types into a fresh page of Louis’ notes app and then passes the phone back. Harry is sure his face is ridiculous as Louis reads the line and then gives up on trying not to crack a grin in response.

He types in something too and hands the phone back to Harry. _‘I have a feeling I’m going to regret this, but, Who’s There?’._

Louis’ probably right, but that won’t stop Harry from trying to make him laugh. ‘ _Moustache.’_

‘ _Moustache who?_ ’ Louis asks raising an intrigued, yet skeptical eyebrow as he passes off his phone. Harry’s already wearing a dumb, self-satisfied smile before he starts typing the big punchline.

‘ _I moustache you a question, but I think I’ll shave it for later.’_

Generally, Harry’s knock knock jokes receive mixed reviews. He’s a hit with kids and himself. His students always love his sense of humor and laugh for ages, however his friends and family are usually a tougher crowd. He can’t tell which side Louis falls on, but his amusement is undeniable as he facepalms to hide his smirk that turns into a full-blown smile. Success!

For the past fifty minutes Louis has worn a slight frown of frustration while trying to learn new signs. Now, his eyes have life in them; like sunlight dancing over sea waves as he straightens up in his seat and begins typing something new.

‘ _I’ve got one._ _What’s the best thing about Switzerland?_ ’ Harry reads before shrugging and responding with _‘I don’t know. What?’._

‘ _Well, I don’t know either, but the flag is a big plus.’_

Harry finds that way funnier than he should, but he can’t help it. He also can’t help noticing how soft and fond Louis’ eyes go when he takes the phone back.

 _'One of my sisters told me that joke a long time ago,’_ he reveals. _‘It’s so dumb, but neither of us could stop laughing. God, we were so ridiculous back then.’_

He has a sister; more than one apparently. Harry wonders how old they are and if they’re as hilarious and annoying as his own sister. He asks Louis all of those things, but he realizes he won’t be getting any answers when Louis’ eyes become more sad and bitter than fond and reminiscent. As if the happy memory he was just thinking of isn’t quite so happy anymore.

Harry has lots of happy memories of his childhood, but hardly any of them involve Gemma until Harry learned to sign well enough to have an actual relationship with her. For years, Harry didn’t know how funny she is or her favorite songs because she’s three years older, could sign fluently, and it took Harry a while to catch up. Their mother always jokes that they’re so inseparable now as adults because they’re making up for lost time. Not being able to fully communicate with his sister as a kid was hard. He can’t imagine what that must be like in reverse. He can’t imagine what it must be like for Louis to be the deaf one and have all his relationships change overnight.

There is about a yard of space between him and Louis, but they are no longer signing so there’s no need for it. Harry moves his chair beside Louis’, smiling to try and comfort him. It doesn’t work of course. Nothing Harry can do can make Louis’ life the same as it was six months ago, but he can make sure he’s doing everything possible to try and help.

Right now, signing lessons are new to Louis so keeping up momentum is easy. That won’t last long if Louis feels like it’s not helping. They need to find ways to keep Louis motivated; to keep him moving towards his goals. The best way to do that is to find out what exactly his goals are beyond just learning to sign.

‘ _What do you want to get out of our lessons? What are things you want to be able to do from before?_ ’

Harry asked a version of these questions at their first lesson, so when Louis meets his gaze it’s with a slight frown. There must be millions of things Louis wants back from his life before he lost his hearing. Eventually, he decides on a few to type in response.

_‘I want to be able to do well at work and enjoy my job again. Right now it’s just. Hard. I wish it wasn’t.’_

That’s understandable. Louis’ file said he was working at the children’s science museum. Harry has never visited but it sounds like a fast-moving place full of hundreds of conversations and distractions that must be hard to work through; particularly for someone who’s deaf. Harry can’t take away the chaos of Louis’ job, but he can contact the museum to talk about some adaptive tools that might help a bit.

 _‘Okay,’_ Harry types back. _‘What else? How about your family? Friends? A partner?’_

_‘After my accident, everyone started learning to sign, but I told them not to bother. I feel guilty enough they had to make changes in their lives. Now, I’m asking them to start over because I randomly changed my mind about it all.’_

_‘And that’s perfectly okay,’_ Harry assures him. _‘There are no rules for this, and lots of families learn together. We have group lessons here too. We can get your loved ones signed up if you want.’_

Louis grins a bit at that. _‘You say that now, mate, but you haven’t seen the SIZE of my family.’_

_‘Try me.’_

_‘Eight including me,’_ Louis smiles.

 _‘Perfect! When can we all start?’_ Harry beams, making Louis roll his eyes. Eight is way more than Harry has ever taught at one time, but he can do it. Especially if it’ll help Louis feel just a bit more like himself around them.

Louis looks a lot less anxious than he did before. Maybe it’s because he’s getting to talk about the future and it isn’t as scary or impossible as it once seemed. Maybe it’s because he just needs someone he can be honest with about how difficult this is for him right now; someone on the outside who doesn’t make him feel guilty. Either way, Harry’s just glad to see him smiling again.

 _‘You know, we don’t only do individual and group signing lessons here,_ ’ he begins carefully. _‘Signing is a great way to communicate especially with other people who know how to sign but we have audiologists who specialize in voice production too if you’d like to give it a try sometime.’_

Harry realizes he may be pushing a bit here, but it’s only because his student should know it’s an option. Louis is a great candidate for voice production because he spent his whole life listening to his own voice until half a year ago. It can be much more difficult for people like Gemma who was born deaf or Niall who lost his hearing as a toddler. Gemma is verbal, so she speaks on occasion while Niall talks every second of every day, but not everyone likes to. It’s a personal decision, and one that Louis doesn’t seem very keen on at the moment.

‘ _Thanks, but I think I’ll stick to learning just one thing,’_ he types, now staring at his shoes rather than meeting Harry’s eyes.

Harry has made him uncomfortable by asking about it which he never intended to do. He wants Louis to feel as comfortable as possible here, so he stops pushing. Instead, he nods in agreement of Louis’ decision and changes the subject.

_‘We’ve got a few minutes left! Ready to finish up where we left off?’_

Louis signs the word yes which Harry takes as a hint that he’s no longer into their break time. Discussions about using his voice are clearly a sensitive topic so Harry places his chair back in front of Louis’ and resumes reviewing signs for small talk.

“ _Nice to meet you_. _Where are you from?_ ”


	3. Chapter 3

Every time Louis reaches for a crayon to finish his picture of the Power Rangers, the exact color he needs has suddenly disappeared. Only it hasn’t because his little sister is wearing a guilty grin; the one she always wears when she’s being annoying.

“You’re not funny, you know,” Louis informs her after the red crayon is returned to his side of the kitchen table.

“Yes, I am,” Lottie insists. “Mum, says I’m very funny.”

Their mother turns away from their grilled cheeses sizzling away on the stove to give Lottie a smile of endorsement. She’s funny alright. Funny-looking in Louis’ opinion, but he doesn’t say so.

“I’ll prove it,” his little sister claims. “I’ll tell you a joke.”

“You don’t even know any jokes,” Louis mutters as he finishes up the red ranger’s helmet.

“ _Yes,_ I do.”

Louis rolls his eyes, sighing as he abandons his drawing to face his little sister. “Go on then. What’s your joke?” She doesn’t know any jokes. She’s just turned five so her idea of a joke is something made up on the fly that makes no sense whatsoever, but he’ll play along.

 _“_ Okay, here goes,” she beams with the few front teeth she has that haven’t fallen out yet. “What is..... the best thing about Switzerland?”

“Lotts, you don’t even know where Switzerland is,” Louis scoffs. He’s just turned eleven and he barely knows where it is.

“ _Lou pleaseee!_ Answer the question! What’s the best thing about Switzerland?”

Louis lets out another sigh. This is seriously the biggest waste of his Saturday afternoon. He’s got a drawing to finish after all and a grilled cheese to eat after that. “Gee, I don’t know, Lotts. What’s the best thing?” The punchline is going to be ridiculous. She’s going to say zebras. Or blue spaghetti. He’d bet his bicycle on blue spaghetti. Her face screws up and she glances at their mother like she’s trying to remember what comes next and Louis is _positive_ it’s going to be spaghetti.

“Well.... erm, I don’t know either...” _Brilliant_. There’s _no_ punchline at all. Louis is just about to return to his drawing when his sister finally decides to finish her joke. “...I don’t know why Switzerland’s the best, BUT the flag is a really big plus!”

For a moment, Louis is silent. He genuinely did not expect that. Nor does he expect to laugh so hard that he splutters all over the red ranger. His little sister is right. The flag _is_ a big plus. What’s funnier than the joke is the incredibly smug look on her face as laughter fills the room.

“Told you I’m funny,” she asserts. And yeah, she is.

The hard vibration of Louis’ phone alarm yanks him from their old kitchen in their old house that they quickly outgrew once his other siblings were born. He’s no longer listening to Lottie’s high-pitched giggles or the sounds of his mother making lunch. He’s no longer listening to anything. There’s just silence which is why Louis’ hearing dreams can be so disorienting.

When he finally opens his eyes, he finds himself in his bedroom of the new house; the one Louis moved back into a few months ago. There are birds chirping outside his window as always. He knows they are because it’s sunny out today and the birds used to drive Louis insane on days where he tried to sleep in. But he guesses he won that battle in the end. Annoying bastards.

His phone is still vibrating under his pillow, so he wedges it free and dismisses his weekday alarm. He flops back against his pillow with his phone in hand and consults his work schedule that he and the museum are still trying to work out so he’s able to attend signing lessons during the week as well. He doesn’t have lessons today so he’ll go into work at his regular time. That’s actually a little disappointing because he’s been enjoying his lessons quite a lot. Yes, they’re hard and exhausting and he usually leaves with a slight headache from trying to remember so much information at once. But, oddly enough, he likes being there. He likes being in a space that’s designed for people like him; a space where Louis doesn’t feel like such an imposition because he needs different things than other people. Harry has never made him feel like that. He’s pretty sure Harry and the other instructors at the learning center enjoy working with deaf people to celebrate their differences. Harry’s so patient that he practically radiates calm which is what Louis needs on most days. Mostly, he just enjoys the way Harry and the learning center make him feel normal in a way that he hasn’t in a long time.

After coming to terms with not getting to go to his little corner of a safe space today, Louis begins absentmindedly scrolling through Instagram and Twitter. Not to post anything. He hasn’t done that in forever, but just to see what’s going on in the world and what his old mates have been up to. They’re not really _old_ mates since technically they’re still friends. There was no big blowup or fight, but things did get weird after his accident. After Louis got hit on the way to see them that night, every other time they tried to hang out or go out felt plagued by it. The fact that things could never be the way they were was the constant elephant in the room that just got bigger and bigger. Eventually, his friends stopped texting as much, but then, so did Louis. They never discussed it. They simply drifted apart including Louis and the guy he had been dating at the time. He faded to the background too, but that was to be expected since they’d only been seeing each other for about a month.

Being deaf changed his life in ways he never expected. It has changed _Louis_ , but he isn’t angry about that anymore. He held onto it so tightly and for so long that his anger eventually ran out. He’s a little bitter and sometimes he feels sorry for his old, carefree self, but there’s no sense in dwelling on the past. He can’t go back any more than anyone else. He can only move forward, and so, he allows himself thirty more seconds of reminiscing on drunken nights out before dragging his arse out of bed so he’s not late to work.

Once he’s showered and his face is stubble free, the smell of breakfast starts to lure him down the stairs. He gets dressed and arrives in the kitchen just in time to see his mother plating up eggs. She and all of Louis’ siblings turn towards him when he walks into the room. He’s greeted with lots of good morning smiles and waves that he returns. He walks further into the room to get himself some orange juice and earns a playful hip-check from Phoebe who just beat him there. He steals a piece of bacon from the stovetop and his mother gives him a chastising yet fond shove in the arm. One of his favorite parts about moving back home is getting lovingly beat up every morning. He missed it.

The multiple conversations going on in the room continue as Louis slides into his usual seat at the table and starts spreading jam across some slices of toast. His phone is full of notifications from his family by the time he’s finished, each member of his family who owns a phone vying to catch Louis up on all the morning gossip he missed. Apparently, the toast is a little dark today because Daisy put the toaster on too high, though she denies this and claims it was the toaster’s fault for being able to go that high in the first place. Phoebe’s best friend is having a birthday party this weekend so she needs to get her a gift, Doris and Ernest accidentally knocked a glass off the counter a mere ten minutes before Louis arrived, and somewhere in between the chaos, his mother and eldest sister Lottie started debating who the next James Bond should be. Just another typical day in the Tomlinson household.

This is usually where Louis tries to read lips the most because he knows the members of his family well enough to gauge what they’re saying and how they say it. In theory, he should be able to follow at least a little of what they’re all saying, but not so much. For every few words he’s able to pick up on by watching their mouths and facial expressions, he misses about twice as many because his family isn’t exactly a still bunch of people. And, to make matters worse, they’re at breakfast so they’re all taking bites of food and drinking in between their sentences so Louis never knows when they’re truly done talking or if they’re just taking a break to eat. Reading lips for him is like trying to complete a puzzle with only a handful of the pieces, but he constructs as much meaning as he can from what he’s seeing.

Phoebe is still debating what she wants to get her friend for her birthday. At least that’s what Louis _thinks_ is being said, but then suddenly everyone in the kitchen starts laughing and looking towards the youngest twins, so maybe not.

‘ _What’s everyone laughing at?_ ’ he asks in their family group chat.

It’s Lottie who finally stops laughing long enough to respond, however it takes her so long to type out what was said by who and how that by the time Louis clues into the joke, the humor has gone and most everyone is onto the next topic.

He smiles anyway. It _is_ quite funny that Ernest told Phoebe to buy her friend a puppy and then when he found out she’s allergic decided her friend should sleep outside. Louis chuckles at his six-year-old brother’s hilarious suggestion, but he does wish he could’ve heard it in real time and laughed with everyone else.

After breakfast, everyone’s off to school for the day and he and his mother are off to work. Somehow, his mother always seems to know when something is bothering him, even if he can’t say so.

She used to be the best listener and advice giver anytime he had a problem, and she still is the best, only now her being there for him is more physical than verbal. Today is no exception when she stops him from walking out the front door with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Her light grey eyes are full of empathy and understanding as she pulls Louis into a tight hug in the doorway. Louis sighs into it, trying to remember the sound of her heartbeat that he can feel thumping between them. When she lets go, Louis feels so much lighter than before. He suspects she just knew breakfast left him needing a bit of a cuddle.

That light feeling stays with him through the morning and even when he arrives at the museum. He walks in to find Bebe leaning against his desk at the welcome kiosk with two iced coffees in hand. Louis smiles at his friend expecting her to smile back as usual. She doesn’t. Instead, Bebe sets down the drinks with a flourish and takes a deep breath before signing good morning.

Louis blinks back in surprise. He hadn’t expected that. He also hadn’t expected to actually recognize the sign out of the blue. Harry claims he’s doing such a great job with lessons. Louis always figured he was full of shit and had to say that since it’s his job, but maybe Louis is doing alright after all.

“ _Hi! Good morning!_ ” Louis signs back, making Bebe clap and jump up and down in excitement because they just had a full exchange through signing. Louis can’t lie and say it isn’t exciting for him too. “ _Where did you learn that?_ ” he asks her, but instead of getting an answer from Bebe he gets more of a deer in the headlights look that probably means they’ve just hit the extent of their collective potential to communicate this way.

Louis breaks out his phone and asks his question again, snorting when Bebe explains she Googled how to sign a bunch of things, but so far _good morning_ , _more wine_ , and _where’s the toilet_ are the only ones she’s any good at.

He wraps his friend in a crushing hug that makes her laugh; his friend who didn’t have to Google how to sign anything at all, but she did. It means a lot that she’s trying on his behalf. That’s way more effort than Louis’ old friends ever put in combined, and Louis loves her for it.

They separate and another person starts walking towards them. It’s their boss who comes to stand at the welcome kiosk as well and suddenly she and Bebe are both grinning at Louis like they’re in on something that he isn’t.

He raises an eyebrow and his boss gestures for Louis to step behind his desk. He moves to do so, frowning halfway though when he notices his desk phone he never uses anymore has been removed completely and replaced with a shiny new iPad next to his work laptop.

Again, Louis raises an eyebrow prompting his manager to excitedly nudge Bebe in the arm. His friend starts fiddling with her phone again so Louis figures she’s typing an explanation for what the hell is going on. Instead, the screen of the iPad starts flashing with the words _Incoming Call_ displayed across it along with Bebe’s number. Louis can’t answer calls anymore. That’s why they get directed to someone else, but Bebe and his boss give him nods of encouragement, so he taps the _Answer_ in the bottom left-hand corner. Bebe speaks into her phone’s receiver and he hears nothing of course, however, he still knows exactly what she said, watching in amazement as the words ‘ _Hello there!’_ suddenly appear on the iPad screen.

‘ _Right,’_ she continues. ‘ _I’m calling to find out if I can request that amazingly talented, smart, and gorgeous tour guide, Bebe. I’ve heard so many great things about her_ ’.

There’s a couple of seconds of lag time between what she says and when it becomes text for Louis to read, but it’s still incredible to see. Louis can’t stop looking between Bebe, her phone, and the iPad where the on-screen keyboard just popped up for Louis to use.

‘ _Well,_ _hurry up and respond,’_ Bebe urges _. ‘It’s rude to leave all my admirers hanging,’_ she teases.

In response, Louis types ‘ _Hi there. How may I help you?’_ , and he isn’t sure how exactly this app works but magically his message is relayed to Bebe’s phone as speech, meaning Louis just had his first successful phone call in months. Holy shit.

‘ _Isn’t this so cool? It’s so much faster than texting!_ ’ Bebe says into her phone and Louis nods in agreement. It’s the coolest technology he’s ever had to use by far. He wonders where on earth it came from so he types it into the iPad and looks between Bebe and their boss.

‘ _Your signing instructor contacted me,’_ his boss explains using Bebe’s phone. This was _Harry’s_ doing. Of course. They just talked about adaptive tools for work a few days ago. _‘He said you might find this easier for taking calls, so he sent over the iPad for you to try out. What do you think?’_

Louis thinks he can finally do his job properly again. Also, he thinks he has a massive thank you to give the next time he sees the person responsible.

*

Harry removes the lid of his coffee and watches steam rise off it. It needs to cool a bit before drinking it or else he’ll risk burning off half his taste buds, but letting it cool off requires patience that Harry is currently running a bit thin on. He glances across the coffee shop at the clock on the wall that’s partially blocked by his sister sitting in front of him with her cappuccino and a couple of the biscuits Harry baked over the weekend.

“ _It’s forty past in case you were curious_ ,” she signs. _“Or, in case you’re completely ignoring me. Again.”_

“ _I’m paying attention,_ ” Harry frowns.

“ _Yeah, to the time,”_ she laughs. “ _You got somewhere else to be?_ ”

Besides work in twenty minutes, no. “ _Just antsy, I guess,”_ Harry shrugs. _“I’ve got my new student today._ ”

Gemma’s brow furrows at his explanation. “ _New? You’ve been working with him for weeks now._ ”

She’s right. They’re moving into their third week of lessons today. Harry’s nerves are usually gone by the end of week one, but with Louis they seem to be sticking around.

“ _What’s up with him?_ _Rude?_ _Difficult to work with? Smells like garlic?”_

Harry laughs at his sister’s questions and her garlic grimace. Louis’ one of the easiest students he’s ever had and he is without doubt the most determined and hardest working. They work well together. It helps that Louis’ pretty laid back and doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s willing to fuck up and make mistakes and learn from them. And not that it should matter, but Louis smells great. After their lessons, his shampoo or cologne or whatever it is that smells so good hangs in the air of Harry’s classroom for hours. Not that he’s complaining.

“HELLO??? Am I talking to myself?? Is the man smelly or not??” Gemma shouts, making Harry and the people sitting nearest them jump at the sudden outburst after their table had been silent this whole time.

“ _NO._ He does not smell like bloody garlic!” Harry shouts back and they both burst out laughing at how ridiculous of a conversation they’re loudly having together. _“But, seriously. He’s very nice. I like him,”_ Harry reveals, going back to signing which is probably a million times less obnoxious than a deaf and hearing person screaming nonsense at each other.

Gemma’s still wearing a grin when she nods at his reply, but something about it feels smug as she goes back to sipping her cappuccino.

“ _What? Is something amusing about that?_ ” Harry asks, rolling his eyes when his sister lies and shakes her head.

“ _No_ ,” she signs after placing her drink down on the table. _“I’m sure he’s very likeable like you said_ ,” she grins. “ _And cute, but whatever._ ”

Harry makes a face that just makes Gemma smile more. “ _What? What are you talking about? I never said that,”_ he points out, only to receive an unconvinced ‘ _Whatever’_ in return.

Louis _is_ cute is the thing. It’s not like it’s some big revelation because he’s obviously gorgeous with the stubborn, hard set to his jaw when he has to sign something more than once, and the easy, sunny smile he wears whenever he gets something right. He has a colorful hoodie and fresh pair of shoes for every lesson they have, and Harry looks forward to having his classroom smell like sun-kissed flowers and spiced apples. But, even though Louis’ precisely his type and hotter than all of Harry’s exes combined, Harry generally tries to ignore those things about his student. His student that he is employed to teach and nothing else. At least that’s the mantra he mentally repeats to himself as Louis prepares to tackle a new set of signs by rolling up his sleeves to reveal dozens of tattoos up and down his forearms.

They’re working on timelines today and working them into conversation. So far Harry has taught him the sign for now, until, later, yesterday, and tomorrow and Louis has told him about the breakfast he had until tomorrow and yesterday he slept until now. Honestly, it’s going about as well as Harry expected for someone learning to switch tenses in a new language. The best part is watching how tickled Louis gets seeing everything he signs up on the big monitor that Harry’s typing on.

“ _Right. I’m going again_ ,” Louis informs him, pushing the sleeves of his hoodie even further up his arms which is doing nothing to help Harry’s ability to focus on anything but the quirky little stick figure doing an ollie near the inside of his elbow.

 _“Okay_. _Go for it,”_ Harry encourages him. “ _Remember_ ,” he mouths while pointing at his head. “ _Almost anything for the past is over the shoulder. Anything that’s going to happen is signed in front and away from you because it hasn’t happened yet._ ”

Louis nods like he got most of that, releasing a deep breath before trying again. “ _Tomorrow, I will have breakfast with my family_. _Yesterday, we had dinner. Later, I will sleep._ ” As soon as he signs it, he looks to Harry with a wince, clearly expecting the worse so he does a small fist pump when Harry gives him a much deserved and long-awaited thumbs up. 

They work through about a dozen more signs that way for the next hour. Louis learns to reference next week and last week, before and after, sometimes and always, years, and ages. It’s a lot for one day, but Louis picks them up pretty quickly. It’s not without mistakes of course. Each time he accidentally signs something ridiculous his eyes crinkle up with amusement and Harry can’t help but acknowledge how fucking adorable he is. It’s an issue Harry has never encountered in his teaching career because his students are more than half Louis’ age. Harry’s never been so distracted by someone and it doesn’t get any better once they switch to using Louis’ phone to discuss potentially bringing Louis’ family in for a group lesson.

Louis agrees to talk to his family about it tonight, making Harry’s stomach flip when Louis passes the phone back to him with a request for his phone number so Louis can let him know what he and his family decide.

He wants Harry’s number, just not in the way Harry’s brain jumped the gun in thinking.

Harry blinks down at the phone, unsure how to answer since none of Harry’s other students have ever asked for his number before because they’re all under the age of ten and don’t own a phone. That’s not the case with Louis of course. It shouldn’t be a problem though. Niall and other instructors here are in contact with their students who have questions and concerns outside of weekly lessons. It’s only weird if Harry makes it weird. Plus, it would be much easier for them to chat through text messages during lessons rather than constantly passing Louis’ phone back and forth between them.

Reminding himself that this is a professional number exchange and nothing more, Harry adds himself as a contact in Louis’ phone. He passes the phone back to its owner and within seconds Harry’s back pocket is vibrating against his chair.

_‘It’s Louis! Thanks for this. I realized I didn’t have a way to thank you for the iPad last week so it’s nice having a way to contact you besides coming to the learning center.’_

Louis is grinning at him when he looks up and Harry’s stomach does another flip that it shouldn’t. ‘ _You’re welcome_. _I’m glad I could help_ ,’ Harry grins and sends back. He’s so happy he got to help Louis achieve one of his goals. He’s also happy there’s a full day until their next lesson together because he can’t teach when his stomach keeps doing weird fluttery shit each time Louis smiles. He really needs to sort that out and _fast_.

The next time Louis texts him, it’s exactly twenty-four hours after exchanging numbers and it’s for a pretty good reason. He’s at the museum and has a question about the phone app that Harry’s able to answer pretty quickly before his next student arrives. He explains how the app keeps a running record of the last fifty calls made so he can print them out or have the app read them aloud to another person.

Harry’s response is followed up with a ‘ _THANK YOU!'_ in all caps and a gif of Lady Gaga at the Oscars crying and thanking The Academy. It makes Harry laugh so much that he saves it to send someone the next time he needs to thank them for something. Harry doesn’t realize it at first, but he grins the rest of the day every time he thinks about it.

That quickly becomes their new normal. Louis asks a random question about signing or the iPad, Harry answers, Louis sends something hilarious to thank him, and then Harry searches the internet for a gif or a meme worthy to send back. Louis does what he said he would and lets Harry know that his family would like to try out a group lesson some time, but after a few days, Louis also starts texting him little things throughout the day that have nothing to do with anything. Like the light rain he walked home from work in and his personal five-star rating for the Chinese restaurant near his house.

Harry doesn’t mind. Quite the opposite really. He kind of likes knowing what Louis’ up to and what he’s thinking throughout his day. As his signing instructor, it’s really none of Harry’s business how Louis spends his time away from the learning center, however he likes that Louis is making it his business. He thinks it’s funny Louis talks in memes, and it’s nice that they care if the other is having a good day or not. It’s almost like they’re becoming friends which isn’t a bad thing necessarily. He’s actually really interested in getting to know Louis, he’s just overly aware of the fact that there’s probably a fine line in there somewhere that shouldn’t be crossed. That’s okay, because he has no plans to cross it. He can be friends with his attractive and funny student. And, regardless of what Gemma implied, there’s absolutely nothing weird about that. ~~~~

It’s a little weird for work to suddenly spill into other parts of Harry’s life. The only person Harry even sees outside of work is Niall. However, they were friends long before Harry started working at the learning center, so there’s little association for him. It’s not like it is with Louis where Harry’s work is the main thing that connects them, but that’s quickly changing.

At the end of the week, Harry curls up on his sofa with a tall glass of made-it-to-Friday wine to binge as many episodes of Great British as possible before he crashes. It’s his favorite part of the weekend besides Saturday and Sunday mornings when he attempts recipes from the show. They rarely turn out right and Harry’s kitchen is always a mess afterwards, but experimenting is half the fun.

He’s nearly through cake week when his phone vibrates with a new message. Harry’s grin is instantaneous when he sees it’s from Louis. His grin doubles in size because what Louis sent him is a request for a new knock knock joke.

Harry is all too happy to oblige, taking inspiration from Paul Hollywood’s grimace while trying someone’s signature bake when he replies.

‘ _Knock Knock’_

 _‘YES! I knew you’d have a joke ready!’_ Louis sends. Harry chuckles at that. He doesn’t keep just _one_ joke in his queue. Harry has _dozens_. ‘ _Who’s there?’_

_‘Icing.’_

_‘Icing who?’_

_‘Icing SO loud, the neighbors can hear,’_ Harry replies, laughing and nearly choking on his wine at Louis’ response of ‘ _Wow._ _Even the deaf ones?? Impressive.’_

Like Gemma and Niall and most of Harry’s deaf friends, Louis enjoys making deaf jokes from time to time. They’re never self-deprecating or at his own expense, but they are always funny and just a little bit sarcastic or dark which is always guaranteed to pull a smile out of Harry.

‘ _I do what I can,’_ Harry teases. He’s unsure what to say next as their conversation goes quiet. Actually, that’s a lie. He knows exactly what he wants to say. He wants to ask Louis what he’s doing right now and hear all the details about his evening, but he thinks it may be inappropriate. Or maybe not. At this point, he honestly can’t tell. Thankfully, Louis breaks down and asks Harry what he’s doing first, so really, he’s obligated to answer. It’s out of his hands.

‘ _I’m just hanging out. I’m having wine and watching Great British for inspiration_ ,’ he reveals.

‘ _Inspiration?? Are you a baker?!_ ’

‘ _Eh. Not really,’_ Harry chuckles to himself. _‘I’m a destroyer of cake pans more like, but I always have fun with it.’_

‘ _Oh God. You’re one of those,_ ’ Louis teases. _‘Attempt anything edible lately?’_

 _‘Mmm... I did a re-do of biscuits last week. According to my sister, they weren’t half bad.’_ That’s high praise considering Harry’s first attempt at biscuits turned out so hard that Gemma claimed even she could hear Harry crunching on them.

 _‘I’m sure they were great,’_ Louis tells him before their conversation starts to fizzle once more.

‘ _What are you doing?_ ’ Harry asks even though he knows he probably shouldn’t because it’s none of his business, but he can’t help wondering. He wonders about Louis a lot these days.

‘ _Me? Nothing really. I was watching a movie with my youngest siblings but they fell asleep, so.’_

There’s so much that interests Harry about that statement like what movie they were watching and how old his siblings are, but he doesn’t get to ask. Before Harry even starts typing the questions, Louis sends another message explaining that he’s pretty tired too so he’s going to bed.

Harry sighs after wishing Louis a good night, slightly disappointed to not be learning more about his new student –friend. Whatever. There’s a lot of mystery around Louis and his life. Harry is no longer into pub-crawls until two in the morning the way Niall is. He’s usually too exhausted and fearful of the massive hangover the morning after so Harry is at home most Friday nights. But, lots of people Harry and Niall’s age are not. Louis is only a couple of years older than Harry, so he’s not exempt from having fun. And yet, he’s at home too. It’s possible he’s grown tired of massive hangovers as well. Or, maybe some other reason keeps him in.

During lessons, Harry notices when they try to chat about hobbies and things they do for fun, Louis doesn’t have much to say which is strange for him because he’s getting better at signing every day. He can now sign through short conversations, but he tends to freeze up when they delve into his life outside his family or work. Ironically enough, those secretive parts of Louis are precisely what Harry wants to know about.

He tries not to think too deeply about it and put Louis out of his mind. However, it’s not even ten minutes into the episode’s technical challenge that Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him. Before he knows it, he’s abandoning his baking show altogether to grab his laptop and search Louis’ name.

This is something he’s never done regarding a student; partly because it’s unprofessional, mostly because they don’t even have social media so it’s impossible. He finds an Instagram for Louis though, and within it, he finds answers to many of his wonderings.

His youngest siblings are fraternal twins; one boy and one girl. They are about the same age as Harry’s other students, and arguably the cutest kids Harry has ever seen. There seems to be another set of twins who are older and identical to one another which is mind-blowing all on its own because Harry’s never met a family with two sets of twins. He has two more sisters who are older than the twins but look younger than Louis, making him the eldest.

All of Louis’ selfies contain at least two other people and they were all taken in a pub or at a football game. He likes music; over half of his photos are from concerts given by bands Harry’s never heard of, and apparently, he plays music as well because there are a few pictures of him sitting at a piano some years back. Harry spends nearly an hour going through the past five years of Louis’ life that he deemed worthy of immortalizing, right up until the last photo Louis added, which was over six months ago. 

That realization replaces the light feeling in Harry’s chest to one that’s much heavier because in the past, Louis looked happy. He went out with his friends, got dumb tattoos, and stopped every now and then to take pictures of the sky if it was particularly beautiful that day. He was carefree and loud and unabashedly so, but that’s no longer the case. It’s possible that Louis isn’t even that person anymore and he’s fine with it. The noticeable shift in his smile and who he is could be the result of simply growing up a bit. Harry sure isn’t the same person he was five years ago, however the timing of Louis’ life virtually stopping six months ago makes Harry suspect it’s something other than maturity that ended things.

Either way, he just wants Louis to be able to feel like his life is worth sharing again. And hopefully lessons will help do that for him in some small way. Harry can surely do his part in restoring the brightness of Louis’ smile. Starting with something sweet that’s probably going to be overbaked or burnt completely, but hey, it’s worth a shot.


	4. Chapter 4

Initially, signing lessons at the learning center weren’t all that great for Louis, but slowly, he has grown to appreciate them. Not because he’s some signing genius, but because the learning center has become a bit of a safe haven for him; a refuge. He likes that he’s now a regular so people recognize him in the corridors and sign hello. It’s been four weeks. One whole month of coming here, and Louis has finally started to feel like he belongs. And, the person most responsible for that is the person sitting before him right now trying to teach him signs for quantities and numbers. _Trying_ being the key word there because Louis isn’t paying any attention. He can’t, too focused on the trio of lemon meringue cupcakes on the table next to them that spell out Louis’ name. Or, part of it at least.

When he arrived today, Harry only presented him with an ‘ _L_ ’, an ‘ _O_ ’, and a ‘ _U’_ cupcake so Louis suspects the rest of the dozen didn’t fare quite as well during the baking process, though Harry claimed the nickname was intentional. Even if it wasn’t, Louis quite likes the idea of having ‘ _Lou_ ’ cupcakes instead of his whole name. That’s what his family calls him. It’s what his friends used to call him, and Harry is a new friend– teacher. Something. Why is he still thinking about this?

Louis doesn’t usually have a problem focusing during lessons. Or rather, he doesn’t usually have as _much_ of a problem. Today it’s mostly the cupcakes, although Harry is a distraction all by himself. That’s because he’s fucking gorgeous of course, but anyone with eyes could see that. Louis would probably have trouble remembering his own name if he had met Harry in a pub somewhere or a concert. Having to come here three times per week to look past his dimpled smile and how green his eyes are in order to actually learn sign language is no easy feat. It’s more challenging when he bakes personalized cupcakes over the weekend and decided not to shave. Honestly, his little shadow of a beard and mustache are fucking Louis up more than the sweets. Louis’ so distracted by them that he doesn’t even realize Harry’s hands frantically waving at him to get his attention.

 _“Hey. Did you get that?”_ he signs.

Nope. Louis got almost none of that, but he doesn’t let that stop him from nodding and trying to appropriately respond to whatever the hell Harry was just on about.

They were doing a role play... or something. Harry was trying to sell him hypothetical oranges or a cheesecake or _something_ so appropriate questions to sign back to him would be _How much do they cost?_ or _How many do you have?_

 _“How much are they?”_ he signs, thinking back to twenty minutes ago when Harry first showed him the sign. Louis’ fist hits his palm and then he makes a slight shrugging gesture with both his shoulders and eyebrows so it’s obvious he’s asking a question. Not too shabby in Louis’ opinion. Or maybe it wasn’t as great as he thinks considering Harry’s confused expression. “ _That was bad wasn’t it?_ ”

 _“No, your signing was pretty perfect,”_ Harry signs. “ _I just already told you how much.”_

Ah, yes. Most likely, that information was shared while Louis was still thinking about the cupcakes. And the scruff.

“ _Right,_ ” Louis signs, biting down on a grin as he debates admitting to Harry that he has no idea what they’ve been doing for the past ten minutes or just winging it. Winging it, it is. “ _I think I remember._ _50p for three blueberries, right?”_

 _“Well, strawberries, but, yes,_ ” Harry corrects him, but the slight furrowing of his brow doesn’t go away. “ _Try signing the price again,_ ” he tells Louis. Whenever Louis is asked to repeat a sign it usually means he has butchered something so he’s not at all surprised when they pause their role playing to work on Louis’ form. After a few noble attempts where Louis doesn’t get any better, he’s not surprised when Harry decides to stand up and walk over to Louis to coach him.

The only thing more distracting than Harry Styles sitting half a yard away is a Harry Styles crouched over and standing so close Louis can see the little flecks of gold in his eyes that give them their bright meadowy shade. This teaching technique never actually improves Louis’ ability to focus. Especially not today with Harry’s nails painted a soft lilac. It suits him even better than the bright red had a couple of weeks ago. Louis even likes the way the purple looks against his own skin when Harry reaches out to physically manipulate Louis’ hands into correctly signing 50p.

After that, Louis couldn’t sign it correctly if his life depended on it. He also can’t seem to keep his facial features in check, holding back a dumb grin like a twelve-year-old because the cute guy just touched him. Granted, that cute guy smells divine and has the biggest, softest hands ever, so Louis reserves the right to objectively admire his friend – teacher. _Whatever_.

Eventually, Harry and Louis accept his fate of signing 50p a little wonky. And it’s actually impeccable timing because there’s only fifteen minutes left of their lesson that’s usually reserved for chatting about things not on the lesson plan. It’s what Louis looks forward to the most because he gets to use his brain less and his phone more. Except, lately, he’s been able to hold most of their short conversations through signing, so his phone is rarely needed. Harry calls that progress, and Louis calls that unbelievable because a month ago it was impossible.

They’re no longer learning, so Louis grabs the ‘U’ cupcake for himself and hands the ‘O’ cupcake to Harry. It’s not even lunchtime yet but Louis doesn’t care as he sits back and bites into the best thing he’s ever tasted.

“ _I thought you said you weren’t that good!”_ Louis signs poorly because he refuses to put down the lemony goodness Harry baked. “ _This is... This is_ ,” he can’t remember the sign for delicious, so he resorts to making an orgasmic face instead with his eyes rolled back.

It causes Harry to spit bits of cupcake onto the floor where he’s bent over cackling. God, Louis wishes he could hear it.

When Harry’s finally done laughing, they only have about ten minutes left before Louis has to go to work, and Harry has to prepare for his next student. Louis doesn’t want to go. He’s enjoying work so much more now that he’s gotten back into the swing of things, but he likes being here too. He likes it even more when Harry grins at him with his eyes alight with curiosity, the way they currently are.

“ _What kind of music do you like?_ ”

At first, Louis frowns because he assumes he has misunderstood the question, however a few seconds later Harry pulls out his phone and texts Louis the same question.

Odd thing to ask. Clearly, Harry must be making a joke because Louis doesn’t do music. At least, not anymore.

Louis begins to type his answer, but halfway through his explanation he realizes he can probably sign it without butchering it, so he does.

“ _I liked lots of music before. But, I’m deaf now, so I can’t listen anymore._ ”

There’s nothing funny about that. Actually, Louis thinks it’s pretty sad because he loved music more than anything, but then he realizes Harry isn’t laughing at him. He’s just trying to hide a ridiculously proud grin because Louis’ signing was flawless.

Louis expects Harry to congratulate him or offer words of sympathy for having to say goodbye to something he loved so much. Instead, Harry asks him something else entirely.

“ _Why not?”_

Now, Louis’ sure he’s making a joke by asking the deaf guy why he can’t listen to music. He doesn’t have the signs for his explanation, so he switches to his phone. _‘Well, I should think it’s pretty obvious, Harry. What you're talking about isn't exactly and option for me because I’m deaf. ’_

 _‘Yes, and in my experience, lots of deaf people still like listening to music especially if they have enough of their hearing to pick up the bass line or other faint sounds,_ ’ Harry sends, making Louis narrow his eyes at him in suspicion.

What Harry’s talking about is insanity, but he has never lied to Louis before. He can’t imagine he’d start now. Louis is deaf but not completely. He picks up loud thumps if they happen close to him. He wouldn’t call that grounds to pull up his old Spotify, but maybe it is.

_‘You’ve never tried it have you?’_

Louis shakes his head, his curiosity growing when Harry grins, signs that he’ll be right back, and then leaves the room.

He glances at the clock hanging on Harry’s wall. Their lesson ended two minutes ago. Louis has twenty minutes to make it to the museum, but he’s way too intrigued to want to leave.

Harry makes a quick return, and when he enters the room, he’s got Niall with him. He teaches here too and from what Louis gathers, he and Harry have been friends for quite some time. Louis assumes that’s why Niall is currently smiling while handing Louis a pair of large head phones.

“ _These are my old ones, but they still work really well. You should try them sometime,”_ Niall signs and mouths. Harry nods in agreement even though he was busy clearing away their cupcake crumbs. He couldn’t have seen anything Niall just signed, which means he must’ve heard it.

Niall’s choice to use his voice is almost as fascinating to Louis as the expensive-looking headphones he’s getting permission to borrow – _have_. _“I’ve got two pairs. Keep them,_ ” Niall insists, before explaining he has to hurry back to his classroom to meet his next student.

 _“Thank you,_ ” Louis tells him.

He offers Louis a kind grin as he starts towards the door, pausing when his eyes catch sight of the single cupcake left on the table with an ‘ _L_ ’ iced onto it.

His grey eyes are alight when he asks Louis if he baked it, his grin growing so wide it practically takes up half his face when Louis shakes his head. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do, because Harry cuts his friend a look of warning.

 _“Goodbye, Niall. Thank you for the headphones. Now, get out,”_ Harry signs at his friend so fast that Louis almost misses it. The two of them seem to be caught in a silent argument with their eyes because Harry’s face is tomato red as he’s pleading for Niall to go, but Niall is smiling like an idiot and laughing, so maybe not.

Louis can’t help but feel like he’s missed something when Niall finally goes and Harry is instantly relieved.

“ _Everything okay?_ ” Louis asks only for Harry to fondly roll his eyes and text him that Niall’s an idiot that he is officially ignoring for the rest of their lives. Louis doesn’t mean to smile, but the faint blush creeping up Harry’s cheeks again is so cute that Louis can’t help it.

It’s late that night after everyone in his house has gone to bed that Louis sits on the edge of his bed with Niall’s old headphones in hand. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous about them. Either Harry’s right and he can have a piece of his old life back, or he’s not. It’s as simple as that, and yet Louis’ hands are shaky as he connects the headphones to his laptop’s bluetooth and slides them over his ears.

He hasn’t bothered with Spotify in so long that it takes him a few attempts to even remember his password. Once he types it in he goes straight to his playlists. The one he was listening to while getting dressed the night of his accident. The last song he heard was Twice by the Catfish and the Bottlemen. He had been dancing around and singing before going to meet his friends. He had been happy, so he hits play hoping to recapture at least a bit of that feeling.

Louis has heard this song more times than he can count so he knows what it _should_ sound like. There should be quick guitar riffs and cymbals crashing right at the start. He doesn’t hear any of that of course, but he can make out the beat, particularly if he turns the volume all the way up. The music’s so loud that the headphones are vibrating. It’s like a mini earthquake over his ears each time the bass pounds so that the experience of listening to the song isn’t so much about hearing as it is _feeling_.

The song ends and Louis’ adrenaline is up just like when he could hear the music. He should go to bed because he has work first thing tomorrow, but he’s way too energetic to sleep now. Instead, he listens to more music both new and old though it’s easier with old music because although he can’t hear everything, he knows what’s supposed to come next.

He spends the whole night catching up on all the music he has missed over the past seven months and it’s easily the most _him_ he has felt in a very, very long time.

*

_Three Weeks Later_

Harry has known this day was coming for weeks and yet he still couldn’t sleep last night. He was too anxious; too nervous about having not only Louis is his classroom today, but his family members as well. The biggest group Harry’s ever taught at one time is three kids, so he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle a mixed group of eight beginners alone, and on a Saturday afternoon no less. Reinforcements are needed here, so Harry enlisted the best; Niall and Gemma. Both of them are great at teaching sign language, and coincidentally, they’re great at being annoying as hell.

“ _Nice shirt. Is it new? Sure looks new,”_ Niall smirks from where he’s sitting on _top_ of Harry’s desk, not helping to set up enough chairs for the massive group of people due to walk into his class any minute according to Louis’ most recent text.

“ _Shut up_ ,” Harry signs back, rolling his eyes as he continues placing borrowed chairs in a semi-circle in the center of his room.

“ _Any special occasion we should know about? Anyone you’re trying to impress perhaps,_ ” Niall continues, cackling when Harry grabs a random sparkly pencil from his activity table and aims it at him. He misses which only amuses Niall more.

“ _Oh, leave him alone,_ ” Gemma chimes in from where she’s sitting in one of the borrowed chairs, _also_ not helping. “ _He looks good! He even plucked his eyebrows for this,”_ she snorts.

“ _I did not!”_ Harry signs, feeling his cheeks heat up. He didn’t _pluck_ them _._ He simply got rid of the stray ones and shaped them up a bit. He also shaved, removed the two-week old chipped polish from his nails, and used three pumps of hair product instead of two, but there’s nothing wrong with that. He simply wanted to look nice today. He’s allowed to want to look nice.

“ _Alright, alright. I’ll leave you and your gorgeous curls alone,_ ” Niall teases. “ _Seriously. What do you need help with?_ ”

“Picking better friends, clearly,” Harry quips aloud, ducking the sparkly pencil Niall throws at him after reading his lips. Harry picks it up and moves to chuck at his best friend again, but the sound of multiple people approaching his classroom stops him.

Gemma and Niall realize they are no longer alone when Harry drops the pencil at his feet and smiles at Louis and his entourage of family members behind him.

Harry can recognize them all from the dozens of stories Louis has told him. His two eldest sisters, Lottie and Félicité, walk in first followed by the set of identical twins, Daisy and Phoebe and the youngest set of twins, Ernest and Doris walking in hand-in-hand. Louis’ mother, Jay is the last to step into his classroom, however she’s walking beside another young woman Harry can’t place.

She can’t be one of Louis’ siblings unless he forgot to mention one of them which isn’t likely. She probably isn’t a distant relative because she looks nothing like the rest of the Tomlinsons, but with the way she communicates with Louis through private looks and smiles, they’re obviously close. They could just be friends. Harry and Louis have been friends for a while now, and not once has he mentioned a beautiful girlfriend. Not that it matters of course. He and Louis are still friends even if he is in a relationship. Harry was just a little surprised seeing her because she just raised the grand total of today’s group lesson to nine people rather than the eight he planned for. But, it’s no big deal. That’s why he asked for help.

“ _Louis! You made it,”_ Harry greets him. Louis smiles and signs a hello back, stirring up those butterflies that for the most part, Harry has learned to control. Still, a few persistent ones manage to flutter free. 

“ _Hi, sorry we’re a little late_ ,” he signs back flawlessly before going on to introduce his entire family. “ _This is my mum, and my sisters and brother I’ve told you all about,”_ he explains, signing each of their names as they wave at Harry one by one. “ _Oh! And this is Bebe_ ,” he signs, reaching out to his left to affectionately squeeze Bebe’s arm. “ _I told her we were doing this today and she wanted to come with. I hope that’s okay?_ ”

So, she isn’t some long lost sister he forgot to mention and probably not a cousin either since Louis’ actual sisters seem less familiar with her than he does. Interesting. Harry becomes so engrossed with watching her every interaction and trying to figure out who the hell she is that he almost forgets Louis asked him a question.

“ _That’s great she wanted to join us. The more the merrier_ ,” Harry signs and replies out loud for the benefit of the hearing people in the room. He blinks back in surprise when Bebe suddenly does the sign for ‘excitement’ followed by a very over-the-top, but natural-looking ‘thank you’.

Harry’s face must look as surprised as he is, prompting Bebe to finger spell ‘YouTube’, making Louis smile and fondly roll his eyes at her. They start having a conversation Harry can’t follow that’s part sign, and then equal parts head nods and head shakes and raised eyebrows. He doesn’t realize he’s staring until someone discreetly elbows him in the side.

 _“_ My brother has forgotten his manners, so I guess we’ll have to introduce ourselves,” Gemma teases as she signs along.

“ _Sorry,_ _everyone_ ,” Harry apologizes. “ _This is my sister, Gemma, and this is my friend, Niall. He teaches here as well_. _They’re going to be helping out today along with our very own Louis Tomlinson, who’s practically a pro now_.” He pauses to allow Gemma and Niall to sign hello to everybody and for Louis to blush and wave Harry off though he should know by now that Harry never passes on an opportunity to applaud him and how far he’s come.

Next, Harry explains how the group lesson will work very much like Louis’ one-on-one lessons, except they’ll be split between the teachers in the room so everyone can get help when they need it. And boy, do they need it.

They start with the basics of learning the alphabet, introductions, and also some signs they all might use at home like good morning and good night. Gemma is working with Louis’ mother and his two eldest sisters who seem to be pretty fast learners. Niall has a pretty easy job too with the eldest set of twins who are ready to move onto easy questions and small talk way before anyone else. Harry took the two six-year-olds since he has the most experience teaching kids, and it goes about as well as he would’ve guessed. Their attention span isn’t very long so he has to work fast and he periodically mentions a mysterious treasure box of toys and sparkly pencils to keep them motivated. They’re both kind of a handful, but they’re also extremely cute and their bright amusement at silly things makes it hard to Harry for keep a straight face. 

Louis floats around and helps a little with everyone, but no one more than his official student of the day, Bebe. Harry’s classroom has never been more hectic. There are a million and one things going on with the dozen people crammed into it, and yet he can’t stop himself from glancing over at the most interesting pair in the room who are obviously great friends, if not more. Harry would daresay he’s a bit jealous. That makes zero sense because he considers himself pretty good friends with Louis too. It’s not like it’s a competition or anything so he forces himself to push aside all ludicrous notions of jealousy and do his job like he’s supposed to.

The lesson lasts an hour. It’s less time than Louis gets on his own each session, but it’s enough to get everyone including the little ones doing basic signs. Harry couldn’t be prouder because just getting them all here at the same time was a feat in and of itself. Between multiple work and school schedules, the only time they all had open is Saturday when the learning center is technically closed. Harry got them all special permission to be here today, but that won’t work every time. They’ll need to figure out another way to do these big lessons. Harry suggests them meeting at a park or some other open space, but Louis’ mother points out how unpredictable the rain has been lately. She offers an alternate solution and invites Harry over to their house for lessons as well as dinner as a thank you for his time. 

“You don’t have to thank me,” Harry assures her, watching Jay roll her eyes in a way that’s all too familiar to him thanks to Louis.

“Nonsense,” Jay scoffs. “I should thank you even more for everything you’ve done. I’ve seen such a difference in my son since he started coming here. That’s all you, and because of that you get dinner at ours. Whatever’s your favorite,” she grins making it impossible for Harry to say no.

“Yes, Mrs. Tomlinson,” Harry nods before being scolded for being so formal. “Er, yes, Jay.”

Louis approaches Harry next, making him smile even bigger when he wearily shakes his head.

“ _Teaching is hard work,”_ Louis signs. _“I don’t know how you do it.”_

“ _With alcohol_ ,” Gemma answers as she and Niall come to stand with them. “ _We’re going for drinks with some friends after this. You have to come with us!”_

“ _He doesn’t_ ,” Harry tells his sister before turning to face Louis. “ _You really don’t have to. Do not let her pressure you,_ ” Harry warns only for Niall to wave him off.

“ _What are you talking about?_ ” he scoffs. “ _He isn’t being pressured. He WANTS to go, don’t you, Louis?”_ Louis’ expression is complete concentration as he tries to keep up with everybody’s signing. Harry’s certain he didn’t get one hundred percent of all that, but he got enough to eventually give a grin and small shrug.

“ _I’m with Niall!”_ he signs. “ _It sounds like fun.”_

“YES! _”_ Gemma and Niall cheer so loud it startles all the hearing people in the room. “ _It IS going to be fun!_ ” Gemma signs. “ _It’ll be me, Harry, Niall, my boyfriend whom you haven’t met yet, and some of our other friends. I promise you’ll love them and they’ll love you too_.”

Harry agrees with her there. Louis spends most of his time in the hearing world with people who don’t speak the language he’s learning and can’t really relate to being deaf. Their friend group is pretty diverse. It’s made up of people with some degree of deafness and people who are hearing and every one of them can sign, read lips, and communicate verbally. It would be great for Louis to be able to see some of that outside of the learning center. Also, Harry can’t help but feel excitement at the prospect of spending time with Louis that isn’t work-related. Before he knows it, his stomach has gone all fluttery again. However, his anticipation is short-lived due to Bebe’s ‘ _Can I come too?’._ In the midst of all his excitement, Harry almost forgot she was here.

 _“Of course you can!”_ Harry signs with a tight grin _. “_ The more the merrier _,”_ he mutters under his breath.

Cavern pub has been their spot for over a year. Harry doesn’t even know who found it or how everyone started hanging out here, but it’s one of his favorite places to be with some of his favorite people. Tonight, that includes Louis.

It’s still warm out even though the sun has started to set so they take up their usual picnic table on the east side of the building. Gemma and her boyfriend, Michal, are sat at one end next to Liam and his girlfriend Maya. On the opposite end of the table is Harry sandwiched between Niall and Louis with Bebe next to him. More than half of their table is either deaf or hard of hearing, and yet, somehow they’re always the loudest people there. 

Their table is a mixture of signs, words, laughter, beer, and chips, and it’s one of the best nights Harry has had in a while. He can tell he’s not the only one having fun each time he glances to his left to see Louis glancing back at him and smiling. Just as Gemma promised, Louis’ a hit, he spends the majority of the time talking just with Harry, but also the other people on his end of the table like Maya who is deaf, Liam who is hard of hearing, or Bebe who continues to impress Harry with the sheer amount of sign language she’s been able to pick up just from watching videos.

Going into this evening, Harry didn’t know how he felt about Bebe, but as the night progresses Harry realizes she’s pretty amazing. She and Louis are as inseparable as ever, which Harry can’t help but notice as they’re literally sharing a basket of chips and trying each other’s drinks. He can totally see why Bebe would be into Louis and vice versa. They’re both beautiful and funny and charming as hell. However, he also can’t help but notice their interactions are a little different from the other couples around the table which only confuses Harry more. Maybe they really are just friends after all.

Their group starts shrinking rapidly as people realize they’ve been sitting around chatting well into the evening. Niall takes off first followed by Gemma and Michal who have a movie date night they’re overdue for. Liam and Maya also have plans, so they head out just before Bebe who rather abruptly decides to take an Uber home. In the end, it’s just Harry and Louis sitting around their deserted table. Neither of them has any plans to hurry off to, so they order one more drink each and then decide to call it a night.

 _“So... that was fun,”_ Harry signs once he and Louis are standing on the pavement.

“ _It was,”_ Louis smiles. _“Everyone was so great. Liam’s tattoos are sick_.”

Harry nods in agreement and grins back, unable to stop thinking about the fact that Bebe left without him. When all the couples started clearing out, Harry expected Louis and Bebe to follow suit, but they didn’t. They had a very intense eye conversation that periodically involved them glancing over at Harry who was pretending not to watch them. The next thing Harry knew, Bebe was leaving, Louis was staying, and the vibe totally changed. It’s none of Harry’s business if they had a fight or whatever that was but he can’t help wondering. And, before Harry knows it, he’s blurting out the question he has no right to ask.

_“Is everything alright between you and Bebe?”_

“... _Yes?_ ” Louis answers with his brow furrowed in confusion. “ _Why?_ ”

“Nothing. I just-” felt like he was in the middle of an awkward third-wheel situation, but he doesn’t know why. “ _Never mind. You really don’t have to answer that. I don’t know why I’m even asking about your relationship. I’m sorry,”_ he apologizes, frowning when Louis’ frown becomes deeper. He assumes Louis didn’t catch the majority of that, so he signs it all over again, but Louis’ frown doesn’t go away.

“ _No, I understand, I just. What relationship?”_ he asks.

 _“...Yours? ...With Bebe, your girlfriend?_ ” Harry answers, feeling much less certain about his assumption.

In the two months they’ve known each other, Harry has never heard Louis’ voice. Whenever he laughs, it’s a shy, silent kind of thing that’s mostly air and bouncing shoulders. It’s nothing like the loud, guttural cackle Louis lets out on the pavement, startling not only Harry, but several people walking by them from how loud it is.

As shocked as Harry is to hear how amazing Louis’ laugh is, he can’t help but think it’s the best sound in the world. His laughs are usually so guarded like he’s afraid to let himself be truly amused by something, but the way he’s laughing right now involves his whole body; his head thrown back to expose his eyes so crinkled they’re hardly visible when he’s finally able to stand up straight and face Harry without laughing all over again.

“ _What?!”_ Harry demands, now unable to stop laughing himself.

“ _Bebe and I are NOT together!”_ he snorts. _“We are just friends,_ ” he explains as he pulls a face similar to the one Harry made that time a barista gave him and Niall a couple’s discount because they dared enter a coffee shop together on Valentine’s Day. Louis makes several attempts to sign something else, however whatever he has to say never quite takes shape.

“ _Forget a sign?_ ” Harry asks, making Louis violently shake his head as he takes out his phone and gives a one-handed sign for ‘One moment’.

He types something out pretty quickly and then hits send. Harry’s phone vibrates with a new message that instantly clears up any confusion and makes them both burst out laughing even louder than before.

_‘What’s the sign for Gay?’_


	5. Chapter 5

Louis’ so restless staring at the clock on the kitchen wall that his fingers drumming on the kitchen table is loud and annoying enough to gain the attention of even his mother who’s hardly ever bothered by anything after seven children.

She turns to him with her brow raised, wearing a knowing grin as she too glances at the clock to see it’s now only five minutes till four. That’s a whole minute less than the last time she stopped organizing the pantry to check in on Louis who is never more impatient these days than when Harry is due over at their house.

“ _You alright?”_ she signs, pointing at Louis and giving him two thumbs up. She’s been signing for less than a month, but she’s learned a lot in that amount of time. All of his family members have really. Even Ernest and Doris who get a kick out of telling Louis good morning and good night multiple times a day no matter the time of day. They’re all giving sign language one thousand percent of their effort. His family has even substituted watching movies after dinner to crowd around a laptop to keep up with all the vocabulary Harry has taught them. It’s incredible, and so much more than Louis ever expected.

“ _I’m fine_ ,” Louis answers, quickly turning over his phone just to make sure the wall clock isn’t slow. Apparently, it’s not. His mother catches him doing it, grinning even wider when Louis releases a quick huff.

“ _Nervous?_ ” she chuckles, tapping her left pointer finger against her right shoulder.

Why would he be nervous? He and Harry spend hours together during the week, they’ve even started hanging out outside of lessons, and today will be the second time Harry has been over to the house for a group lesson. If he ever gets here, that is. “ _No,”_ he answers _,_ but that just makes his mother smile harder. “ _I’m going to wait in the living room.”_

“ _Okay. See you in six minutes,_ ” she signs back, clearly still amused by him.

It’s actually now three minutes till, so the joke is on her.

The living room is a much better place for Louis to wait for Harry anyway because at least here he can see through the window behind the sofa if anyone is walking up the drive. However, Louis didn’t account for literally all of his siblings sitting there waiting too.

“ _He’s not here yet,_ ” Daisy smirks, making everyone sport shit-eating grins.

So, maybe Louis is a little impatient today, but that’s nothing new. He hates waiting around. Always has, and that has nothing to do with Harry.

“ _New shirt? Again?_ ” Lottie asks, making an offended face after Louis aims one of the sofa pillows at her head. She chucks it back of course, but Louis’ expecting it. He catches the pillow in his hands but pauses throwing it back when he notices someone walking up the drive.

Harry was told by Louis’ mother that he doesn’t need to knock whenever he comes over. Louis can tell he didn’t listen when all of his siblings’ heads suddenly snap towards the front door. Phoebe moves to stand, probably to go let him in, but Louis beats her to it. “ _I’ll go!”_ Louis signs, forcing himself to walk and not run towards the door.

When he opens it, Harry is standing there smiling, with his dimples, and his hair a mess as per usual, and a travel carrier with something inside that smells sugary and delicious.

“ _You made it_.”

Harry’s got his hands full, so he doesn’t sign anything back. However, the giant smile he sports is answer enough.

Their lesson flies by. They always do whether Louis is with his family or even when it’s just him and Harry. Louis’ ability to concentrate is shit either way. Whenever they’re alone, Louis’ focus is everywhere it shouldn’t be like the way Harry’s toes point inward when he sits, or the shape of his lips while mouthing the words he signs. Louis would be lying if he said he suddenly stops thinking Harry is attractive when his family is around. He’s still mesmerized by Harry’s dimples and the size of his freshly manicured hands, of course. That never really goes away, but in group lessons he finds new things about Harry that are just as lovely like how incredibly polite and kind Harry is to his mother. Or, the cute and expressive way he explains signs to Louis’ youngest siblings. He loves the way Harry interacts with his entire giant family because it’s like second nature for him. He fits right in with everybody and Louis’ mum and siblings are quite comfortable around Harry too. It probably shouldn’t, but that knowledge never fails to make Louis grin.

After the lesson, Harry doesn’t get to leave because Louis’ mother insists that he stay for dinner just as she bullied him into staying last Saturday too. Normally, Louis would never condone bullying of any sort, but it gets Harry to stick around a bit longer, so he doesn’t mind it. The celebratory post-lesson cupcakes he brought become dessert instead, and also a massive hit because somehow, his second attempt at the lemon recipe is better than his first.

Louis’ already lamenting Harry having to leave once they’re all nearly done with dessert. He likes having Harry around. He keeps hoping his mother will bully him into staying for coffee or for Doris and Ernest to show Harry their room and all their toys like they tried to do the last time he was here. Neither of those things happen, but his wish is granted in a different way after Harry receives a text. He reads it, glances at Louis across the kitchen table, and then grins as he begins typing something. 

Louis’ pocket vibrates a few seconds later. ‘ _Feel like a quick drink with the gang?’_

Louis doesn’t even have to think about it before he’s standing up from the table to go find his wallet.

The first night Louis was invited out with Harry and Gemma’s friends, it was just what Louis needed to pull him out from whatever shell he’d been hiding in since the accident. He hadn’t been out in so long he was actually nervous meeting everyone three weeks ago. A lot of those feelings were due to Louis allowing himself to have fun again, and also being in a large group where he isn’t the only deaf person. He doesn’t even know why he was so nervous because he had a great time. He had so much fun that he has hung out with everyone multiple times since then. Even Bebe joins from time to time which is brilliant because Louis loves having her around too. His friend, not girlfriend like Harry initially thought which was fucking _hilarious_ because he loves Bebe, just not that way. He’s not interested in anyone like that really.

Though, that’s not completely true because Louis _is_ into someone; he’s just technically not supposed to be. Louis’ never been much for rules of course but he’s been behaving himself.

He’s behaving himself tonight too even though it’s hard with Harry sitting right next to him at the picnic table, having to explain a joke he just made up because he’s tipsy. Louis only understands about half of what’s being signed around him. Mostly because everybody’s signing gets a little sloppy when tequila shots are involved. Harry’s knock knock joke involved a frog, a mechanic, and a ballerina so Louis can see why there’s confusion amongst the masses. Harry rejects all of their suggestions on how the joke could be improved – it can’t be, insisting that it’s already perfect, and that whenever Niall finally joins them, he’ll back Harry up. Again, doubtful since Harry and Niall spend the majority of their time together annoying one another just for the hell of it.

As entertaining as it is to watch them all argue over a joke that one hundred percent doesn’t make sense, Louis becomes more interested in Niall finally arriving a few minutes later. He walks in through the short iron gate surrounding the outdoor area of the pub carrying with him what looks to be a guitar case in his left hand.

Louis assumes it’s just a guitar case with something else inside, but when Niall opens it to grab his phone from the small storage compartment inside of it, Louis sees there is indeed an acoustic guitar in there. Niall steals the remainder of Liam’s beer, sits down on Louis’ other side, and immediately joins the on-going conversation. He doesn’t side with Harry about the joke –no surprise there, but he does entertain Louis’ curiosity about why a deaf person might carry around a guitar.

“ _Same as any hearing person, I suppose_. _To look cool,_ ” Niall jokes, eventually telling Louis the truth; that he loves to write songs and play guitar with a mate on weekends. Sometimes they even perform them if there’s an open mic close by. He explains it all so casually. Like it’s not the wildest thing ever for a deaf person to play music shows. “ _You look confused_ ,” Niall grins. “ _Don’t be. It’s adaptations, not magic. I can feel the vibrations from the strings rather than hearing them,”_ he explains. _“I also use a flashing metronome at home to help me keep time when I’m learning new songs. After that, it’s all just muscle memory. Easy.”_

 _Easy_? It’s fucking amazing is what it is. Louis is constantly amazed by Niall and everyone else who does all these incredible things that Louis would have never thought possible. Gemma goes to music festivals every summer, Maya loves to dance, and Liam’s a firefighter for fuck’s sake. Louis honestly can’t think of a group of people– _friends_ to look up to more. Definitely friends. Including the person sitting next to him who’s starting to feel like so much more to Louis.

At breakfast the next day, Louis joins his family in making Sunday pancakes and he’s unable to stop himself from grinning each time he thinks about the night before because it was just so fun. They all got drunk and chatted about absolutely nothing until almost midnight. And then, to top it all off, he and Harry agreed to see each other home safely. Mostly, that deal entailed Louis making sure _Harry_ got home in one piece after playing a riveting game of Never Have I Ever that he of course lost. But, it was fun getting him there, and honestly, Louis wouldn’t change a thing. He kind of wishes the night hadn’t ended.

“ _What?_ ” Daisy signs when Louis looks up from the batter he mixed together while wearing the dopiest smile ever.

“He’s been doing that all morning. It’s a bit weird,” Lottie says out loud because her hands are busy at the stove, but she makes sure she’s looking at Louis when she says it so he’s able to read her lips.

“No weirder than sneaking in at two in the morning after a date,” Phoebe smirks, also turning from the sink to look at Louis when she talks despite her hands being covered in dish soap.

“ _It wasn’t a date_ ,” Louis quips for the third time this morning only for his sisters and mother to simultaneously mutter ‘ _Right_ ’.

It’s annoying as always that they all think they know everything about everything and everyone, however, Louis can’t stay mad for long because the way they’re teasing him reminds him of the way things were before he was deaf. They just had a whole annoying conversation that nobody was left out of because ever since Harry started working with them, there’s been a huge difference in how Louis’ family communicates with him and also with each other.

Harry has been teaching all of them how to communicate with and around Louis better by speaking normally so he can follow the conversation, speaking one at a time, and also facing him so he can read their lips properly and see their hands when they sign. They’re small, seemingly common sense tips, but his family has never had to think about those things before. It’s still not perfect of course. Talking over one another is practically an Olympic sport in their giant household, but they’re getting better. They’re all learning to sign for him as well, however that’s not exactly a quick fix since they aren’t fluent. Louis isn’t fluent yet either. He makes mistakes all the time and he’s still got a lot to learn, but he’s getting there with signing lessons four times per week including group. And then there’s the fact that he started learning much earlier than everyone else around him. His family hasn’t quite caught up to him in that sense, so signing isn’t always the easiest option for communicating. It’s almost impossible when interacting with people outside his friends and family who don’t sign at all.

There is a way to help bridge that divide though. Louis could meet people halfway by using his voice so that he isn’t entirely dependent on other people knowing BSL. He’s been thinking about it a lot lately. Especially now that he gets to see how easily his friends at the pub communicate with each other, but also with people who don’t sign like the bartenders for example. Whenever his deaf friends are amongst the hearing, they generally communicate like the hearing by talking to them; something Louis struggles with daily because most of the people he comes into contact with are hearing. Particularly, at his job where his conversations are often very one-sided with people who can’t sign or are just learning like Bebe.

It’s not like he _can’t_ talk to them to make things easier for himself. His voice still works fine even if his ears don’t. It’s just a little scary because he hasn’t used his voice in so long that he’s scared of what it might sound like. Even scarier is the fact that he won’t be able to tell if he sounds different or not. After his accident, he was terrified of that. So much had changed that he didn’t want to give people another reason to treat him different or make fun of him. However, he can’t help but realize how ridiculous that fear is when he’s around people like Gemma and Niall who don’t give two fucks if people think they sound deaf. Louis used to not give a fuck about people’s opinions too. He has no idea when that stopped, but he’d very much like to start again. After all, he _is_ deaf. Who really cares if he sounds it or not? It’s part of who he is.

Louis officially makes up his mind during his Tuesday lesson. He’s nervous. Waiting until the end of the lesson is only going to make it worse, so he goes ahead and asks Harry about the audiologist he mentioned months ago and then never brought up again. Louis had turned him down flat in the beginning. Wrapping his head around sign language was hard enough back then and he was just barely managing it. Learning to talk without hearing himself was just another thing on the massive list of shit Louis had no interest in doing, but he’s interested now.

The teacher half of Harry commends Louis for taking such a huge step and writes a consultation referral for him to see Violet, the audiologist. The friend half of Harry couldn’t look prouder of Louis when he wraps him in a hug so tightly and for so long that Louis can hardly breathe.

It’s after his lesson on Thursday that Louis meets Violet for the first time. She’s not as intimidating as Louis imagined with her short grey hair and bright green eyes that remind him of Harry’s. Her classroom is unlike any other in the building because there’s so many weird-looking devices and pieces of equipment that neither Harry or Niall use.

She tries to put Louis at ease right at the beginning of their session by assuring him that there’s nothing to be nervous about because he already knows how to do the thing they’re going to work on together. She says using his voice is a skill he’s been developing since the moment he was born. Now, he’s just going to do it with a few adjustments since he can no longer use his ears to check his pronunciation and volume.

When she puts it like that, being more verbal doesn’t seem like such a big deal, though he still has reservations. He doesn’t want to sound different than he used to. His biggest fear is sounding deaf even though he is deaf. He knows it’s dumb to be so afraid and insecure about something that he is, but he remembers the heartbroken look on his mother’s face the day he woke up without his hearing. In the midst of him freaking out about it that day, he opened his mouth to speak and whatever came out was just _wrong_. It was basically unintelligible from what he gathered from his mum's reaction, and Louis has never forgotten that moment. Ever since, he has made certain to not be the cause of that sort of look on anyone else’s face.

Violet assures him that he won’t. And, that worrying how he might sound to others and if people will be able to understand him is a totally normal concern. “ _You just have to trust me a little,”_ she tells him, and yeah. Louis thinks maybe he can do that. “ _And, we’re starting out super easy! It’s something else you already know how to do. In fact, you’re doing it right now.”_

Louis can feel his brow furrowing as Violet smiles at him sitting there doing absolutely nothing in his seat.

“ _Breathing exercises,_ ” she beams. “ _Because breath supports the voice the most.”_

Louis guesses that makes sense, so he doesn’t argue as he’s instructed to place his feet flat on the ground and breathe in deep to locate his diaphragm.

 _Here they go_.

*

FaceTime is an app that Harry has always loved; one, because it allows him to both see his sister and all the cool places she travels to for work, two, because they can communicate clearly through sign language rather than wasting time looking for the context that’s often lost in text messages. Whenever they FaceTime, it’s as if they’re sitting right in front of each other. Of course, right now they actually _are_ sitting right in front of one another. They’re at their usual table having their morning caffeine fix in their usual shop before work, only today Louis is joining them. Well, sort of. He’s currently at the museum where he works, giving Harry the grand tour of the new butterfly dome finally opening in about fifteen minutes.

It’s essentially a small greenhouse from what Harry can see. Louis has him propped up in the center of the glass box about half the size of Harry’s flat where kids will be able to learn about butterflies and their life cycles up close and in their habitat. Harry doesn’t know who is more thrilled to have hundreds of butterflies in one place between Louis, Bebe, and the kids due to arrive soon, but he’s got his money on the grown man currently geeking out about the super rare butterfly that just landed on top of his head. Its giant wings are a silvery blue. It’s as if someone painted them to be that gorgeous; just like Louis’ eyes, but Harry doesn’t dare make the comparison with his sister watching him like a hawk over the edge of her coffee.

“ _That’s it. I’m working in here all day. Who needs a desk anyway?_ ” Louis jokes after the butterfly decides a tree at the back of the dome is more interesting. He sees a random caterpillar next and brings the phone to it so Harry can see all of its bright colors.

Harry’s never seen him so excited or look so fucking cute. Who knew he was such a nerd at heart? Albeit a very hot one.

“ _Coolest caterpillar I’ve ever seen,”_ Louis signs, or at least that’s the rough translation. The two of them don’t use the sign for cool very much. They use the words cool, unbelievable, and sick all mixed into one to describe things they’re really into; a sign that technically doesn’t exist in BSL, so they made one up.

“ _VERY cool_. _I can’t wait to see it in person! I’ll use one of my lunch breaks to come down_ ,” Harry promises.

“ _Great! I’ll just be in here_ _with the bugs_ ,” Louis teases.

He hangs up a minute later after realizing how late it is, but not before telling Gemma hello, telling Harry goodbye, and promising to drag Bebe out with all of them this Friday.

Harry’s still smiling when he places down his phone. He doesn’t even have to look across the table to know his sister is wearing a shit-eating grin, but he meets her gaze anyway. It’s not like he can ever hide anything from her anyway. Least of all, his feelings for Louis that are obvious no matter what he does.

“ _What was that weird sign you both did?_ ” Gemma asks as she tries and fails to do the sign for herself.

“ _That’s not it_ ,” Harry points out before showing Gemma the right way to sign it. “ _And, it’s nothing. Just a thing we do sometimes.”_

 _“A thing... as in a special sign between the two of you?_ ” Gemma smirks. “ _That’s so gross it’s cute_.”

“ _Shut up_ ,” Harry rolls his eyes, attempting to hide his blush behind his coffee, but he knows it’s useless. “ _It doesn’t mean anything. People get name signs that are special. And, you and I have secret signs.”_

“ _That we made up when we were five and wanted to sneak sweets behind mum’s back,_ ” Gemma snorts. “ _But, I get it. Special signs for special people. Michal and I also had special signs when we were still PRETENDING to be just friends.”_

Pretending. Right.

_“I hate you so much.”_

_“Why? Because you know I’m right?_ ” Gemma laughs.

The truth is, he only has special signs other than name signs with people he cares about most like his sister, their mother, and Niall. Obviously, he hasn’t known Louis anywhere near as long as any of them, but he cares about Louis all the same. That was inevitable he supposes, though he doesn’t regret it in the slightest. He has had a crush on Louis since day one; minute one really. He has never outright asked Louis if he feels similarly, but Harry’s gut says they’re on the same page. It’s probably just wishful thinking on Harry’s part, but he has this feeling that if he’s patient enough over the next few months while he’s still Louis’ teacher and friend, it’s possible that afterwards they could finally be more.

He doesn’t even realize he’s gone back to grinning like an idiot until Gemma hurls a couple of balled-up napkins at his face. Still, zero regrets to be had.


	6. Chapter 6

The highlight of Harry’s week is late Friday afternoon when he heads home to change out of his work clothes and get ready for the pub. He’s been looking forward to tonight since he woke up today because he loves hanging out with his sister and all of his friends, and because he misses Louis. Granted he saw Louis for an hour and a half this morning during their lesson and the day before. Both times were lovely, but seeing him while at work isn’t the same as being with Louis outside the learning center.

Early morning Louis who frowns while trying to remember thousands of signs and huffs out of frustration when he has to be corrected is amazing. Even more so whenever Harry decides to pull a knock knock joke from his repertoire to make him smile. However, Harry also loves the less formal Louis who teases Liam for supporting West Bromwich and Niall for his everlasting love for Derby County. He teases Harry too for putting tiny umbrellas in his beer like it’s a margarita instead of just ordering one like he really wants to. Most importantly, he always, always asks Harry to share chips with him before anyone else, rendering Harry powerless to say no. Once they all call it a night, he and Louis generally walk each other home. Or rather, _Louis_ walks _him_ home because Harry’s attempts to keep up with Niall’s alcohol tolerance never seems to work out. Harry’s place is a whole twenty minutes out of the way for Louis, and yet he never complains about the walk. In fact, with the way his eyes light up as their group says goodbye, he seems to look forward to their little ritual even more than Harry.

By the time Harry arrives at the pub, everyone else is already there and waiting for him. He walks past Gemma, her boyfriend Michal, Liam, and his girlfriend Maya on the right side of the picnic table. On the left is Bebe as promised who brought her friend Perrie whom Niall is always happy to chat with. And then of course there’s Louis smiling at the other end of the table across from Gemma and Michal with a spot on his left that was kept open for someone.

Harry’s stomach flutters knowing that someone is him.

“ _Did you get lost?_ ” Louis smirks.

“ _Why, did you miss me?_ ” Harry teases back after sliding in next to him.

“ _Not at all,_ ” Louis snorts. “ _We ordered without you,”_ he lies, caving when Harry’s brow furrows in offense. “ _I’m joking. THEY all ordered_ ,” he explains, glancing around the table. “ _I wanted to wait for you_.”

Harry’s entire face is a fucking smile, he just knows it.

“ _Thanks, Lou_ ,” he signs, trying to school his smile into something less ridiculous as he turns on his so-called friends. “ _I’m glad SOMEONE here has manners_.”

“Oh, fuck off. We ordered you a beer,” Gemma rolls her eyes.

“And a pink umbrella!” Bebe shouts helpfully from the opposite end of the table. “You’re welcome!”

“ _FIINEE._ _I spoke too soon_. _Thank you,”_ Harry signs at everyone with a roll of his eyes.

“ _Wow_. _You’re a terrible person. Like, actually the worst. It’s sad,”_ Louis signs before his lips pull up into a smirk. “ _Want to share chips?_ ”

He thought Louis would never ask. “ _Okay_ ,” Harry answers, however Louis misses it due to something else stealing his attention and everyone else’s too. They’re all excitedly waving at the person walking towards their table with a giant grey and white Husky at his side.

“ _Who’s that?_ ” Louis asks, raising an eyebrow at everyone’s reaction to the tattooed man with short hair that Harry definitely didn’t expect to see tonight.

“Er- _His name’s Zayn_. _He’s cool. He’s... a friend_ ,” Harry answers, aiming his sister a look of warning when she grins at Harry’s description of the person who _is_ a friend. Harry just periodically finds himself drunkenly tongue to tongue with him when the right amount of alcohol is involved, but they have never actually dated because they have very little in common besides an appreciation for the occasional drunken hookup obviously.

Liam, the obvious culprit here, hops up from the table to hug Zayn hello and tell him how great it is that he was able to join them after all. Zayn makes his way around the picnic table to say his hellos to everyone including Harry who quickly hugs him hello as a welcome back from his work trip to the States that apparently ended a few days early.

Harry has never really felt awkward about their interactions before now with everyone watching them including Louis.

“ _I’ve been gone so long, you’ve all replaced me with new people_ ,” Zayn jokes, nodding quick hellos at Bebe and Perrie, but he pauses when he gets to Louis who’s sitting next to Harry at the end of the table. “ _Hi. I’m Zayn, and this is Zoe_ ,” he introduces himself and his hearing dog. They’re a gorgeous pair who turns heads everywhere they fucking go.

Louis seems equally charmed by the both of them, grinning when Zayn extends a tattooed hand towards him. “ _Mind if I squeeze in for a second?_ ” he asks after Louis meets him halfway.

“Erm-” Harry starts when he sees Zayn eyeing the coveted space between him and Louis. Zayn’s partially deaf so he doesn’t notice the small protest from Harry, and Louis, ever the social butterfly, hardly even hesitates before sliding closer to the end of the table to make room.

Harry hopes that Zayn’s presence at his and Louis’ end of the table will be temporary, but he realizes that’s not the case when he loops the end of Zoe’s leash around under the bench to keep her close by.

This is not how the night was supposed to go. Harry had very specific expectations of spending most of his time with Louis which has somehow turned into Zayn chatting him up about America and his non-profit job, and art, and concerts, and tattoos, and everything else including his bloody dog who is adorable and completely innocent in all of this as she naps at Zayn’s feet, but still. 

When the chips finally came out, half of them went cold because it’s hard to share with someone not sitting directly beside him, and hardly able to pay him any attention with Zayn stealing the spotlight every chance he gets. Harry hardly gets to speak to Louis at all and he’s gutted because he can’t even do anything about it without making things weird. It shouldn’t matter that Louis and Zayn get along so well or that they have so much in common because technically, Harry shouldn’t care. Harry is just Louis’ friend; his signing instructor at best so he has no right to hate the fact that someone else sees how incredible Louis is and is interested in him.

Harry of course is interested in him too. He has known Louis is amazing from the start. Harry has real feelings for him, and he has had them for a while now, but Zayn’s been gone for weeks so there’s no way he could’ve known that. And, as for Louis... Well, Harry thought that maybe he felt the same way. Harry had hoped he did anyway. His game plan this whole time has been to wait out their professional relationship so they could be in a place to maybe try a romantic one someday, however that’s probably never going to happen for them if he and Zayn start dating first. And what’s worse than losing any chance of being with Louis while Zayn’s in the picture, is the probability of losing a piece of their friendship as well. Friendships are never the same once people fall in love with someone because there’s only so much time in a day, and the majority of that time will no longer belong to Harry. That hurts more than anything. 

His hurt turns to jealousy and then to annoyance pretty quickly as he’s pretty much ignored all night except for the few quick exchanges and private grins Louis aims past Zayn. And, Harry knew it would happen, and yet later on he still glares at Zayn and Louis the whole time they smoke at the gate and Louis happily takes his number. It’s so cliché that Harry can’t believe Zayn actually gave it to him. Just like that. He can’t believe the night he was looking so forward to ended with him watching the person he snogged twice flirt with the person he thought he could have a real future with someday.

Thankfully, Zayn doesn’t stick around the whole night. He eventually has to leave to go feed Zoe and sleep off the jet lag. Harry has never been more relieved because in terms of alone time, he and Louis have gotten almost none. Harry has spent his evening hanging out with his other friends but now, he finally has the chance to make up for lost time. However, just as Harry’s about to try, he’s thwarted yet again and by Niall of all people. Granted, Louis sought Niall out to have a private conversation away from the group, so it’s not Niall’s fault. It still stings though. By the time the two of them return from chatting about whatever the hell couldn’t be said in front of everyone, the rest of their group has started to clear out until next weekend.

The night is done, people are heading home, and Harry’s never felt so crushed.

The only thing that makes him feel marginally better is Louis walking up to him just as he’s about to leave and asking if he’s ready to walk. Harry has half a mind to say no, but he could never do that to Louis. It’s not fair for him to be mad at Louis for talking and flirting with other people. It’s not like Harry has dibs on him or anything, and it’s foolish to think Louis would wait for him when Louis could have somebody like Zayn who he could be with tomorrow. The truth is, Harry is a little mad, though the feeling doesn’t last long with Louis smiling at him while convincing him that they shouldn’t walk alone. After all, beggars can’t be choosy.

They’re standing outside the pub about to leave when Harry realizes that after all the fuss he’s made about not having time with Louis, when it comes down to it, he has nothing good to say. He can’t tell Louis not to take numbers from gorgeous men. He can’t make Louis feel the things that Harry does for him, so instead of trying to and sounding like an idiot, he just starts walking instead.

He barely even makes it a full two steps towards his flat before Louis stops him with a hand lightly gripped around his arm.

His blue eyes are concerned as he tries to meet Harry’s gaze that’s aimed everywhere except on the person anchoring him to the pavement.

“ _Something’s wrong_ ,” Louis signs, fondly rolling his eyes when Harry gives an unconvincing shake of his head.

“ _No. I’m fine_.”

“ _You’re not,”_ Louis maintains. _“You’re lying, and we both know you’re not that great at it,”_ he teases, his grin fading when he realizes Harry isn’t grinning too. “ _Harry._ _Tell me what’s wrong_. _What happened?_ ” Louis fixes him with a look that says they aren’t going anywhere until he spills, making Harry release a big sigh. He can’t just come out and tell his student that he’s been half in love with him since day one. However, he doesn’t want to stand here and lie to his face either.

“ _I just... I didn’t feel well tonight_.”

“ _Lie. You were just fine when we got here,_ ” Louis points out.

And, alright. So much for that. “ _I’m just tired. I’m ready to go home_.”

“ _Lie_. _Try again. I’ve got nowhere to be._ ”

 _Fuck_.

Harry never realized how smug and annoying Louis can be when he knows he’s right.

“ _Okay. Fine. You want the truth?”_ Harry scoffs. _“I’m mad at you because you acted like I didn’t even exist most of the night. There,”_ Harry signs more aggressively than both him and Louis were expecting. Louis’ eyebrows raise at the admission in an ‘ _are you quite finished?_ ’ sort of way and it just makes Harry angrier. “ _You talked to Zayn almost the whole night, and I get it. He’s beautiful and he’s pretty great, but you didn’t have to flat out ignore me_. _AND, even after he finally went home you still had nothing to say to me because you spent the rest of the night being secretive with Niall! So, yeah. I’m a little mad,”_ he finishes with a huff.

Harry has no idea if Louis got even half of that with how fast and angry it was, but Harry doesn’t even care. Why should he when Louis clearly doesn’t care about him? He doesn’t even give a shit that Harry was just yelling at him, his eyes crinkling up with the stupid grin he can’t seem to keep in check.

“Right. Are you quite finished?”

Harry’s so annoyed by his reaction that he almost misses the fact that when Louis asked that, he said it _out loud_. All this time, Harry has wondered what Louis’ voice sounds like, but the soft and sarcastic timber of it suits him better than anything Harry could’ve imagined.

“Uh... y-yes?” Harry frowns, now fighting a stubborn grin of his own. It’s at war with how mad he still is. However, Louis steamrolls right over how big of a moment that was for him to go back to signing almost as aggressively as Harry, but it’s way more matter-of-fact than angry.

“ _Zayn is lovely. And YES, he’s attractive.”_ Harry fucking knew it. He’ll probably get a bloody wedding invitation in the mail within the year. “ _He’s ALSO an amazing artist, and he agreed to paint something for my mum for her birthday next month_ ,” he flawlessly informs Harry. “ _That’s why I wanted his number. He’s wonderful, but I am not interested._ ”

That certainly clears up some things that Harry clearly missed about tonight. There’s not much Harry can say to that except a sheepish ‘ _Oh_ ’.

“ _Yeah. Oh_ ,” Louis repeats before going off again. “ _And, just so you know, I’m also not interested in Niall. We were talking to see if I can start having my signing lessons with him instead.”_

“What!?” Harry exclaims in the middle of the pavement feeling all the blood drain from his face and his stomach sink lower than it ever has before. His chest physically hurts learning that not only are him and Louis drifting apart as friends, but now Louis is firing him as well. “ _BUT,_ _WHY?”_ he demands.

Yes, Harry was just yelling at him about something dumb that was clearly a misunderstanding and miscommunication on his own part. That was completely uncalled for and stupid and he’ll certainly apologize for it, but besides this one small fuck up, Harry doesn’t think he’s done anything to warrant being completely replaced _._

“ _Why?"_ Louis parrots back at him. _"Because I probably need a new signing teacher before going around asking out my current one, that’s why.”_

Harry raises his hands to fire something back in defense of himself, lowering them when his brain processes what Louis just said. If Harry’s not mistaken, _he’s_ the current one, meaning...

“Oh.”

“ _Yeah. OH_ ,” Louis smirks once Harry realizes he isn’t cutting ties with him out of hatred. “ _You’re the only person I’m interested in, Harry. Not Zayn, or Niall, or even Bebe. Just you_.”

That... is not _at all_ how Harry was expecting this to go. He thought tonight was the end for them, but if he understands correctly, this is actually a kind of beginning because Louis likes him back.

“ _Any more brilliant questions? Want to yell some more?_ ” Louis teases, giving him a playful shove in the chest. “ _Jealous_ _areshole_.”

Harry deserved that. And, no, he doesn’t want to yell, but he does have another question.

“ _Well... what did Niall say?_ ” he asks with a tentative grin.

“ _He just got some free spots in his schedule. We start in a week_.”

A week? That’s so soon. He can’t wrap his head around the fact that all he has left as Louis’ official teacher is a matter of _days_. It’s not long enough. He’s reeling a little because he does not want to say goodbye yet, however he quickly comes to terms with it when Louis steps forward and gently kisses him back down to Earth.

Harry’s breath catches in his throat with the soft slide of his lips. He misses them the instant Louis pulls back, grinning so hard there’s a faint blush on his cheeks visible under the Pub sign still illuminated behind them. They don’t say anything for a long time. All Harry can really do is try not to smile so fucking big as his heartbeat returns to its normal slow pace.

“So... I probably should’ve waited to do that _after_ asking you out,” Louis chuckles. And again, there’s that wonderfully sarcastic and beautiful voice of his. It’s officially Harry’s new favorite sound in the world.

Harry shakes his head half in disbelief of how crazy this night has turned out to be, and also in disagreement because Louis most definitely should not have waited to kiss him.

“ _So. A date with just the two of us._ ”

Louis nods, then seems to rethink his answer and winces a bit making Harry snort laugh. “ _The two of us, plus maybe a few others. But_ , _I promise_ _they won’t be on the date,_ ” he laughs. “ _You’ll see. I already have it planned. It’s next Saturday._ ”

A _surprise_ date. Harry probably won’t even sleep the night before he’ll be so fucking excited.

“ _Cool_ ,” Harry signs the way that only they do, his stomach fluttering like mad when Louis signs it back.

 _“Let’s get you home?”_ Louis starts signing, however, his hands still when Harry takes hold of one of them. After all these months teaching Louis, he knows his hands almost as well as his own. Maybe that’s why it feels so natural when they lace their fingers together and finally start towards Harry’s flat. 

A perfect fit.


	7. Chapter 7

The eight days that pass between their first kiss and their first date are some of the longest of Louis’ life. He started falling for Harry pretty much the day they met so their lessons together were never _easy_ per se. Louis generally balanced their time between signing and wondering if his lips feel as soft as they look. This past week certainly was a rough one now that Louis no longer has to wonder.

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, all Louis wants to do is kiss and touch. He knows Harry shares his sentiments because the man has never looked more tortured than when Louis pretended to forget signs just to make him come close enough to correct him. Admittedly, that was a bit mean, teasing him like that. Louis was fully aware of this fact and now he also knows that Harry has close to zero willpower because they had some slip ups that ended in breathless sighs into one another’s mouths, but only in the privacy of Harry’s locked classroom where no one could see them crossing nearly every boundary of friendship and professionalism that exists. Seriously, Louis even checked the center’s conduct clause. Snogging students, definitely not on the list of exemplary instructor behaviors.

That’s the main reason they waited so long to get here although they both could tell where this was headed all along. Louis certainly hoped to be more than friends with Harry someday. Someday proved to be too far away for Louis. He simply couldn’t wait anymore, and thankfully for him and Harry, Niall was more than willing to step in and help.

Starting Monday, Harry will no longer be Louis’ signing instructor. Niall will take over all of Louis’ one-on-one lessons during the week, but it’s not too bad of a trade-off because he’ll still get to see Harry after all. He’ll still come over on weekends to teach his family to sign, only now he’ll do it off record as Louis’ boyfriend rather than his instructor. Having Harry off the clock more than on the clock is more than worth the sacrifice of losing him as his formal teacher so he can’t really complain. Well, he won’t complain _much_. It’s still hard. Especially today since they decided to skip group for the first time for something just as important to them; their first date.

Louis can’t remember the last time he was this nervous as he gives his fringe a shake in the mirror. Probably not since his first morning at the learning center. He was so anxious that day he almost convinced himself not to show up, but, god, is he glad that he did. Honestly, it’s turned out to be the best decision he’s made in a long time.

His hair pretty much always does the same thing these days, so he doesn’t spend too much time in his room trying to perfect it. He did shave earlier though and he’s wearing a t-shirt that everyone claims makes his eyes brighter and bluer. He’s wearing jeans for the first time in forever, but only because it’s bound to be too hot for joggers where they’re going. Louis is buzzing about that just as much as he is about the date. He really can’t believe how much different his life has become. In just a few months, Louis has gone back to work, learned to sign pretty well, got new friends, fell for a boy, and now, he’s going to a music concert with him of all places. He couldn’t have dreamed up anything better.

All of his excitement and nerves about tonight made Louis a little restless, so he’s dressed and ready to go much earlier than he needed to be. Louis has never been early for anything. It’s barely even ten past six so he’s got over twenty minutes to kill before Harry’s due to arrive. Being in his bedroom just makes him more anxious because all there is to do in there is listen to music by the band they’re about to see or stare at the clock on his phone. That’s no good, so he goes downstairs instead where he doesn’t find anybody to pass the time with because his family are all out back with the grill.

He opts to stay inside so that his clothes don’t smell like barbecue, sighing as he realizes it only took him one minute to walk from his room to the living room. He plops down onto the first seat he comes to, which just so happens to be the old piano bench that has seen better days. So has the piano since at this point it’s just another piece of furniture in the room, and no one really plays it anymore except the twins who pretty much think it’s a giant, noisy toy. Louis never cared much about it either, but his mother wanted him to learn. He was nine when he had his first lesson and he was eleven by the time he realized he’d rather be running around a pitch than memorizing sheet music. He still learned a lot in that time though.

Louis lightly runs his fingers over the neglected keys and snorts because there’s an actual layer of dust on them. He picks a white key at random and presses it followed by another and another. He can’t hear a thing of course, so he’s sure it sounds atrocious. Once again, he thinks of Niall who’s the most impressive person he knows because he plays guitar without hearing a single chord. Piano keys don’t really vibrate the same as guitar strings. At least, not on the outside of the instrument anyway, so Louis’ got no chance there. He’d have no way of checking himself and knowing if what he played was correct. But, then again, there are people like Stevie Wonder who do a brilliant job playing instruments they’ve never even seen. Louis at least has his sight as an advantage. He just can’t hear himself so maybe it’s not totally impossible. And, he already knows how to play a bit and read music too, so it probably wouldn’t sound too awful. Really, his fingers just need to go in the right place at the right time.

He starts to tinker with the keys, trying to match his fingers to the melody in his head. _Ode to_ _Joy_ is just five notes played over and over again which Louis assumes he’s completely butchering. Coincidentally, Beethoven was deaf too so Louis’ certainly not offending him by making a racket. However, Louis has garnered a small audience in Lottie who makes him jump when she slides in next to him on the bench.

Louis figured he wasn’t playing loud enough for anyone to hear, but clearly someone did. Poor thing. She probably came to check that no small animals were being tortured.

“ _Sorry. I’ll shut up,”_ Louis signs, making Lottie’s eyes go impossibly wide.

“ _No, no, no!_ _Please don’t!”_ she begs. Louis laughs at her unapologetic pouting and the flick in the ear he receives when that doesn’t work. He’s flattered by his sister pretending he doesn’t sound awful. Or, maybe he doesn’t sound as bad as he thought since his sister really wants him to play more. _“Please keep going? For me?_ ” she smiles. _“Play the one me and Fizzy liked!”_

She means _Moon River_. He hasn’t played that song in sixteen years, and he doesn’t really remember how. But, he’s still got a few minutes to kill before Harry arrives, and the song was requested by his biggest fan, so the least he can do is try.

“You can’t laugh if I suck,” Louis warns aloud, making his sister smile even more just hearing his voice.

“ _Never_ ,” she promises. “ _Now, go on or I’m telling mum.”_ They both spurt laughs at the threat. Louis hasn’t heard those words in years, however he can imagine exactly how his sister sounded just now because a lot has changed since they were kids and even since Louis became deaf, but thankfully, what’s stayed the same is their relationship and his sister being a lovable little brat, and that’s everything.

Louis doesn’t know when it happened, but eventually everyone who was outside came in to listen to Louis fumble his way through songs he only half remembers. Currently, he’s having a go at a song by The Fray; one of the last things he taught himself before he moved into a place of his own. He has probably made a million mistakes so far. At one point, he had to completely start over, he fucked up so bad, but his family still cheers and applauds him when he’s finished. In the midst of playing, Louis must have missed Harry sneaking in through the front door to listen as well because when Louis looks to his left, his date is there applauding him too.

He looks amazing as ever in a colorful short-sleeved button-up with rainbow nails to match, however, it’s not nearly enough to distract Louis from the immensely proud smile he’s wearing too.

“ _Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt,”_ he apologizes though Louis’ family waves him off. At this point Louis’ mother is just glad to see Harry has finally stopped knocking like he’s some sort of stranger. And, obviously, that he’s now free to come around as often as he wants. Louis’ pretty happy about that too. “ _I didn’t know you played, Lou_.”

That makes two of them.

“ _I don’t. Not really_ ,” Louis jokes as he stands up from the piano bench.

Harry narrows his eyes at him like he knows that’s a load of shit and Louis can’t stop himself from blushing like an idiot. “ _If you say so,”_ Harry says, unable to wipe the grin off his face each time he catches sight of how bright Louis’ face has gone.

Louis didn’t tell Harry until this morning they were going to hear one of the new bands Louis’ been listening to. They just so happen to be doing a set at the small club venue near the museum so really, the decision to go was already made. All Louis knows is that they’re local, they’re called Sleeping with Cannibals, and every song they have is louder than the last with heavy bass that rattles Louis’ headphones like thunder. He knew it had to be even better hearing them in person, and he was right because right now Louis can feel every note they play vibrating through the soles of his shoes.

It’s his first concert in almost a year which is crazy to think about because Louis and his friends went to random shows in and out of the city all the time. He missed strobe lights, overpriced drinks, shouting and singing along with lyrics he doesn’t know, and being so hot that his fringe sticks to his forehead. Obviously, things are a little different now since Louis has never actually heard the lyrics to any of this bands’ songs, but it’s still fun and amazing for him. He doesn’t have to hear words to enjoy the show. He’s having a blast just like everyone else in the crowd jumping and dancing around in the high-energy. What’s even more amazing is that he gets to experience it all with Harry.

Each time Louis glances to his right, a legion of butterflies erupts inside of him because Harry is the cutest and most awkward dancer Louis’ ever seen. He does a lot with his arms and his hips which is an interesting choice considering the rest of the audience has taken more to bouncing to the beat that Harry never does find, but he sure looks good trying.

The multiple beers they’ve both had make Louis feel warm and tingly from the inside out. The feeling only grows each time Harry ignores what’s happening on stage to smile at Louis instead. All Louis wants is to kiss him again and the fact that he’s free to just lean over and do it is more exciting than anything else tonight. However, that has disaster written all over it from how much they’re both jumping around, so now is probably not the best time to try it. Later though for sure.

By the time the show ends, they’re starving and so sweaty that they’re dying to get outside to some fresh air. They aren’t the only ones longing for the nighttime breeze because the entire crowd is trying to make their way out of the venue too. It’s a tight squeeze so naturally, they get bumped into a couple of times. However, there’s a big difference in someone accidentally stepping on the heel of Louis’ shoe and the fucking prick who shoves Louis in the back so hard that he crashes into Harry walking in front of him.

Louis manages to stay upright and keep Harry from tripping forward. Harry didn’t get hurt which is all that really matters to him, and Harry turns around to check on Louis too. He looks relieved to see that Louis is alright, but his eyes fall on someone behind Louis and his expression turns hard and angry. Louis just knows it’s some rude, impatient arsehole, and when he turns around, he’s proven right except there’s more than just one drunk idiot smiling and laughing like something’s funny.

There’s three men who look a bit younger than him and Harry, but that’s no excuse for them to act like fucking two-year-olds because the crowd wasn’t moving fast enough for them. Harry must say something to them because they suddenly look a lot less amused. Louis has to read lips to know what’s going on and he can’t see everyone at once. He chooses to focus on the men standing to his left, so he misses Harry calling them out for pushing him, but Louis definitely sees the man in the middle shouting that they told Louis several times to walk faster or move out of the way.

The rest of the crowd keeps moving around them as the man steps forward with his fist balled up at his side like he’s going to try and hit Harry for speaking up. That pisses Louis off more than anything because this isn’t his or Harry’s fault. It’s always the fault of dickhead people like these who’ll just keep being dickheads unless someone teaches them some manners.

Louis doesn’t even remember deciding to clock the middle guy in the jaw. One second he’s stepping between him and Harry and then next the guy in holding the side of his face. That probably wasn’t the best choice considering he and Harry are outnumbered, but fuck did it feel good. It feels even better when the man standing closest to Louis looks like he might retaliate, but suddenly freezes when Louis shouts louder than he has in months to inform all three of them he’s deaf so he never heard anyone asking him to move out of the way but even if he did hear, that doesn’t give them the right to shove anybody.

No one moves to put their hands on anyone else after that. The three men look between each other for a few seconds where the middle one’s face starts turning red all over rather than just the place Louis hit him.

“Shit. I- I didn’t know,” he says. Or, at least that’s what Louis assumes he said from the way he mumbled it before he and his friends fall into step with the remainder of people making their way out of the club.

When Louis turns around Harry is still standing in the same place that he was, only now he’s blinking at Louis like he can’t believe he just saw him do that, and he’s also grinning like he’s so proud that he did.

“ _How’s your hand?”_ he asks, wincing when Louis hisses because trying to sign something back actually stings.

“Well, there goes my piano career,” Louis jokes, smiling despite the slight aching in his knuckles when Harry presses a kiss to them and says he’s got ice at home.

Louis suspects there’s ice at lots of places right now, and they probably wouldn’t have to walk all the way to Harry’s to get some, but only an idiot would point that out.

“Alright then,” he grins with zero regrets whatsoever about his swelling hand. 

*

Since Louis planned the first half of their date, Harry volunteered to plan the second half of it with dinner at the new taco place near his flat. Its proximity to his place isn’t why he picked it of course. He simply wanted to pick something they’d both like, but now that they’ve skipped dinner and headed straight to Harry’s place to take care of Louis’ injured hand, the fact that their date has ended with them at his is all he can think about.

A bunch of half-melted ice cubes clatter into his kitchen sink as he untwists the towel he fashioned into an ice pack to reduce the swelling in Louis’ hand. Harry replaces the old ice with fresh cubes, fondly shaking his head as he does so because he still can’t believe Louis actually punched that guy. Like, in the face. Harry was just a second away from hitting that arsehole himself, but as it turned out, he didn’t need to. Louis can take care of himself just fine, and God, was it hot watching him do it.

Harry returns to the living room with the homemade ice pack and finds Louis is no longer on the sofa where Harry left him. He’s over at the bookcase which has more photographs and records piled onto it than anything else. He’s admiring a picture of him and his sister from when they were kids. Harry gently brushes Louis’ arm to let him know he’s back. Louis jumps a little from the unexpected touch, which Harry anticipated given he’s in a new place. At times, Gemma and Niall are easily startled too, however neither of them has ever made Harry’s stomach flutter when they turn and smile after realizing it’s just him.

The butterflies have been constant ever since Harry walked into Louis’ house and realized the beautiful music being played was coming from him. Harry learns something new about him every single day and no matter what it is, it just makes Harry like him more. Even when he’s being a little shit.

“Who’s the cute blond with the dimples and the ice-cream all over his face?” he asks, smirking at the picture of three-year-old Harry and six-year-old Gemma making a fucking mess at the beach.

Harry doesn’t even try to hide his blush as Louis laughs either at how light his hair used to be or how much he sucked at holding ice cream cones. However, Louis’ one to talk after the dozens of baby photos he’s seen at Louis’ house.

Once Louis’ done teasing him, Harry gestures at the ice pack he’s still holding and then the sofa where they had been sitting before. Louis sighs, fondly rolling his eyes as he allows Harry to pull him along by his uninjured hand.

They sit so close to one another that Harry can feel Louis’ breathy chuckles on his skin as Harry carefully examines the state of his knuckles,

“My hand doesn’t need any more ice. It doesn’t even hurt anymore,” he tries, hissing when Harry applies some pressure to the bits of his hand that are still a little puffy and red. 

“Right. Sure it doesn’t,” Harry grins making sure to look right at Louis so he doesn’t miss a word of his sass. Harry can feel his heart rate start to pick up with Louis’ gaze trained on his mouth in a way that has very little to do with reading lips. “Um. So...” he begins while pressing the cold compress to Louis’ hand and hoping he doesn’t look as nervous as he suddenly feels. “T-The show was really good, wasn’t it? It was fun and I loved the band–and, yeah.” No response to his rambling from Louis. Just the same mischievous look in his eyes from lessons earlier this week where they were meant to be on their very best behavior. Unlike right now when they’re alone in Harry’s flat where there are no such restrictions that apply to them any longer. That’s either really fucking dangerous or really fucking amazing. He kind of thinks it’s a mixture of both.

Next, Harry starts rambling more about their missed dinner and the Chinese place just down the street from them. However, he never finishes suggesting a new dinner plan for the night, too busy humming into the deep kiss Louis’ been plotting since the moment they got here.

The ice cubes and the towel that was holding them get pushed to the floor. Harry has never moved faster than when Louis starts pulling him down onto the sofa so they’re chest to chest. They bump noses and foreheads a couple of times on the way down and Harry’s floor is bound to be ruined from melted ice, but the way he can feel Louis smiling with every brush of their tongues is worth it. This moment wasn’t exactly planned. Technically, they should be at the taco place right now eating dinner. Not that Harry minds postponing tacos for this. In fact, he doesn’t care if they skip the meal entirely if this is how they’re spending their evening.

It’s unusually bright when Harry wakes up the next morning, frowning at the sun that seems to be shining right at him. He cracks open his eyes again, this time using his forearm as a visor as he peers up at the ceiling of his living room. Harry only passes out on the sofa when he’s drunk or ill, however he feels perfectly fine at the moment. Even better when he turns his head and finds that he didn’t pass out here alone.

A slow grin pulls at Louis’ lips and crinkles his tired eyes. There’s no telling how long he’s been awake, but it was clearly long enough to see Harry trying to hide from the window they’re lying under. There’s also no telling what time they finally fell asleep. The last thing Harry remembers is them making a midnight meal out of some snacks from Harry’s kitchen and picking a bunch of movies they didn’t even watch.

Harry smiles just thinking about it, his lips tingling from overuse while Louis’ look brighter than he’s ever seen them.

“ _Good morning_ ,” Harry signs as best as he can lying on his side and so close to Louis. Louis signs it back, giving Harry a thumbs up before tapping each of his shoulders without so much as a wince meaning his hand is feeling much better. Afterwards, he doesn’t let his hand drop back to his side. Instead, he reaches for one of Harry’s hands to press a good morning kiss to the back of it for good measure.

For a long time, the two of them just lie there with Harry’s stomach fluttering like mad. They won’t be able to stay there forever even though Harry wants to. Eventually, they’ll have to get up, Louis will go home, and Harry will sit around missing him and counting down the seconds until they see each other again. All of that is inevitable, but while the day is still young, Louis is still very much here with him, and if Harry’s not mistaken Louis’ stomach just growled so hard he not only heard it, but felt it through their shirts.

“ _Hungry?_ ” Harry laughs. It’s more of a rhetorical question with his own stomach also protesting after having nothing but popcorn and an already half-eaten container of ice cream.

“ _Starving!_ ” Louis replies dramatically, even going as far as rolling off the sofa to make Harry laugh.

Harry leans over the edge of the sofa cushions and laughs again seeing Louis sprawled on the floor. _“You cook, I help?_ ” Harry proposes, fondly rolling his eyes at Louis who whimpers in pain while clutching at his right hand like it’s suddenly useless. “ _Fine._ _I cook, you help?_ ” he amends, snorting when Louis’ injury magically heals itself and Louis springs up from the floor.

“ _Deal!”_ he agrees with no trouble at all. However, before he’s able to skip off towards the kitchen, Harry grabs him by his belt loops and pulls him back onto the sofa with him. Partly, to punish him for being a lazy little shit, but mostly because however long it’s been since their last kiss was too long, and that simply won’t do.

Eventually, they do manage to make it off of Harry’s sofa and as agreed upon, Harry makes Louis the biggest and best breakfast he can with what he has in his fridge while Louis mostly watches, performs taste tests, and plays dj with Harry’s phone. It’s chaotic as hell with Harry failing to master over-easy eggs with Louis perched on the countertop eating all the bacon and blasting rap songs he loves. Their morning is _a lot_ , but it’s also fun and easy and perfect, and Harry knows right then and there that he wouldn’t mind spending every morning of his life just like this.


	8. Chapter 8

_One Month Later_

Answering emails has never been the thing that Harry loves most about his job. That’s mostly because his days are busy so generally, he ends up saving them for right before he’s about to go home or putting them off until the next morning. However, today Harry has decided to be more proactive, so instead of procrastinating he multi-tasks by eating his lunch of leftover Chinese and working his way through his inbox. It’s a task that doesn’t feel quite so tedious when his phone vibrates on his desk.

He grins before he even turns over his phone just knowing it’s Louis checking in with him or sending a selfie with his own lunch of left-over Chinese from the night before. Except, it’s not Louis texting him this time. It’s his mother, Anne, who lately has been dutifully texting Harry nearly every day for the past month to remind him of his amazing boyfriend she’s heard so much about but has yet to actually meet. 

_‘Subtle as always,’_ Harry teases her, though he does feel a little guilty about not bringing Louis to meet her. It’s not like it has been intentional. He and Louis just haven’t had much time with their weekends that book up pretty quickly these days between group lessons, pub nights, and now, date nights as well. They could always skip some of that this weekend of course. If Harry and Louis decide to trade pub night for dinner with Harry’s mother, Gemma and Michal will most likely ditch too, making it the kind of family event they all love.

He informs his mother that he still needs to run it by Louis, but they should shoot for Saturday _._ No sooner does Harry hit send does the very person he was just mentioning poke his head into Harry’s open classroom.

“ _Lou!_ ” Harry beams, doing the sign for sun with his pointer finger and thumb in the shape of an L; the sign name that was first given to Louis months ago by Niall and it just kind of stuck. Harry never could tell if Louis’ sign became sunshine because his personality is so big, warm, and bright, or if it has something to do with Harry’s name sign being the sign for rainbow combined with the letter H. Knowing Niall, it very well may be both reasons.

Louis smiles and waves a hello as he steps inside the room too. According to the display on Harry’s phone, it’s Wednesday afternoon just as he expected. However, Louis’ random appearance here is a little suspect as well as exciting because his speech therapy sessions with Violet happen on Thursdays at this time after signing lessons with Niall. He has no reason at all to even come to the learning center on Wednesdays. Or, maybe he does have some sort of business here Harry realizes as he watches his boyfriend shut and _lock_ the door behind him.

They’ve spent plenty of time alone in this room together. Harry’s heart shouldn’t beat any faster because of it, but it starts racing the moment Louis pushes away from the door to walk straight towards him.

“ _Lou?_ _What are you- Why aren’t you at work?”_

 _“_ My new signing instructor said I had to come in immediately for an emergency lesson _,”_ Louis says, smirking as he steps around Harry’s desk to where he is. The scent of his cologne fills Harry’s lungs when he leans over Harry with his hands braced on either side of his chair. This close up, Harry can make out the mischievous glint in his eyes that says he’s full of shit and also a pretty convincing liar when he wants to be.

“ _And your boss actually bought that?”_ Harry snorts.

“Well, I couldn’t tell her the _real_ reason I had to come down.” The butterflies in Harry’s stomach wake up as Louis’ gaze zeros in on him and his mouth like a target. Harry can hear himself swallow hard as he dares turn away to double-check his door is actually locked. “Expecting someone else?” Louis laughs at him. No, Harry isn’t. He’s currently on his lunch break so his next student isn’t due to arrive for another twenty minutes. Clearly Louis already knew this information based on the devilish grin on his face just moments before they both surge forward to capture each other’s lips.

Since Louis started having his lessons with Niall, the two of them see a lot less of each other during the workday. However, Louis is usually a couple minutes late to his lessons after dropping by Harry’s classroom first. He usually catches Harry right as he’s preparing for his next student so all they have time for is a quick kiss hello and goodbye. Today, Louis has no lessons and there are no students for Harry to prep for. Louis literally skipped out on work just to kiss him without interruption, and that knowledge has Harry’s stomach turning cartwheels.

He’s so gentle with Harry at first, taking time to feel him out until Harry’s practically melting into his touch. Their lips move in slow and deliberate motions that make Harry’s breath catch in his throat, and it feels like he’s floating. Gradually, their mouths get a little more hurried and Louis’ fingers lightly tangle in his hair that Harry took such care to fix this morning. Harry doesn’t give a shit. All he can focus on is how hard his heart pounds as he pushes himself up from his chair to kiss Louis deeper and at a better angle.

They end up leaning on the file cabinet that Louis pushes him against, and suddenly Harry’s so hard it’s painful. He’s very familiar with the feeling after a month of them taking things slow, and that’s perfectly fine with Harry. Slow is good. It’s amazing, but it’s also insanely difficult to stick to. Especially when Louis does things like randomly popping into his job to rile him up so much that he can’t think straight.

It’s too much at one time but they can’t seem to pull away from each other or slow down as Louis bites down into the supple skin of his lips and grinds their hips together, causing Harry to moan straight into his mouth.

Almost as soon as the sound escapes him, the rattling of his classroom door makes him gasp and forces his eyes to fly open. He whips around to look at the clock on the wall which says he still has another twelve minutes left of his lunchtime, and yet someone is very deliberately standing in the corridor trying to get in.

Louis can’t hear the quick knocks coming from outside the classroom, his brow furrowed as he looks at Harry like he’s insane.

“ _It’s the door_ ,” Harry signs. “ _Someone’s trying to come in_.” No sooner does Harry explain what’s going on does a loud Irish voice boom from the other side of the door to announce his presence. “ _Fuck. It’s Niall_.”

“ _Maybe he’ll go away_ ,” Louis signs, blissfully unaware of Niall loudly asking if Harry’s ignoring him because he’s still mad at him for laughing last week when he tripped going _up_ the stairs.

Harry lets out a long, annoyed sigh, presses a quick apology kiss to Louis’ lips, and then grudgingly adjusts himself in his jeans before crossing the room. He unlocks the door and pulls it open just enough for his best friend to take one look at his wrecked hair, his flushed cheeks, and the _very_ delicate way he’s standing before bursting out laughing.

“ _I should get going. I’ve got a... thing_ ,” Louis announces, side-stepping Harry looking quite self-satisfied and smug about being caught red-handed. “ _We should all do this more often_ ,” he jokes as starts backing his way down corridor.

“ _Bye! See you tonight!_ ” Harry reminds him, making himself and Louis bite down on stupid grins at the chance to spend more time together, and also the prospect of them finishing what they started. Or, at the very least, fooling around a bit during the boring parts of Great British.

Harry’s prediction for that night isn’t too far off later on. They’re hanging out Harry’s as per usual these days, and they did choose an episode of Great British to not watch. However, somewhere between kissing each other into the sofa and watching a bunch of people fuck up jaffa cakes, he and Louis realized how much a good jaffa cake or two would hit the spot. And so, after a quick recipe search and a ridiculous trip to the supermarket, the two of them are now fully committed to baking something delicious that even Paul Hollywood would be proud of. And, effectively destroying Harry’s kitchen in the process.

Usually, Harry bakes alone so the giant mess he creates isn’t particularly entertaining, but fuck is it amazing watching Louis wreak havoc with nothing but a whisk and a recipe that he only partly follows. In the end, there’s jelly and batter on nearly every surface and somehow the both of them are covered in chocolate. The jaffa cakes are lopsided, a little brown on the edges, and the jelly filling isn’t as neat as it should be, so they look absolutely horrendous. However, they taste alright considering it was their first go at it. And anyway, it’s not like it really matters if they’re baking attempt was a success or not. Honestly, it’s mostly foreplay anyway.

Every little look or touch they’ve given each other tonight has been an echo of that afternoon. Those few minutes in Harry’s classroom are all Harry has thought about today. Each glorious memory of their hands and mouths all over each other sending little sparks down Harry’s spine. Kind of like right now as they ignore the mess around them to pick up right where they left off. The jaffa cakes are still warm from the oven by the time Harry’s perched next to them on the countertop with his legs wrapped so tightly around Louis’ waist, his muscles start to ache from the effort of keeping him there. Not that Louis is trying to run or slow them down at all with his hands gripped around Harry’s thighs and pulling at his jeans like he wants nothing more than to rip them off.

That’s all Harry wants too. He’s been dreaming about it for over a month, and when Louis suddenly pulls back to look at him with his eyes blown wide and dark blue, he realizes this just might be the night they both get what they’ve been waiting for.

“ _Bedroom?_ ” Harry asks once he’s able to think straight again. He hadn’t expected for them to have sex tonight and clearly, neither did Louis because he’s suddenly looking a bit nervous.

He blinks at Harry for a few seconds without saying anything. It’s almost as if he’s torn about the decision so Harry figures they’re not ready yet. It’s been a long time for both of them, but they’ve managed to wait this long so they could always wait for longer.

“ _We don’t have t_ -” Harry begins, however, he never gets to finish telling Louis that he doesn’t mind going back to watching Great British on the sofa.

“ _No, I want to if you want to_ ,” he answers, grinning in anxious excitement when Harry does.

“ _Okay_.”

*

Louis takes a deep breath where he’s sitting half naked on the edge of Harry’s bed with his heart pounding in his chest.

His boyfriend isn’t here sitting next to him at the moment. Luckily, he needed a minute in the bathroom once things started heating up, so he isn’t here to see Louis spinning over something that shouldn’t be a big deal. Something that isn’t a big deal. Only, it kind of is for Louis. Much bigger than he expected which explains why he’s suddenly so nervous.

Sex is going to be a lot different for Louis now. On some level he has known that being deaf would change things in that department. However, it wasn’t something Louis had to think too much about prior to meeting Harry. Obviously, that’s no longer the case now that they’re together. And, although he’s been avoiding this moment, the fact still remains that Louis wants to be with his boyfriend. That’s more than a little terrifying for Louis for lots of reasons. But, it’s also exciting because the person he’s going to be going through all of this with is someone he trusts more than anyone; loves more than anyone too. And, if that’s the least scary thing about tonight and taking this next step, then Louis thinks they’re doing alright.

He jumps a bit when he notices Harry returning out of the corner of his eye. Harry always winces when he accidentally startles Louis. He does the same thing now, massaging his fist in a circular motion against his bare chest in apology.

“ _It’s okay,”_ Louis assures him a couple of seconds late because he’s so sidetracked by how beautiful Harry looks wearing nothing but his own skin.

He looks about as nervous as Louis feels, not necessarily about being naked because Harry looks incredible as he’s probably well aware. These nerves are more the result of them finally doing this.

“ _Come here,_ ” Louis signs, his heart thudding along with each step Harry takes towards him until he’s sitting right next to Louis and they resume kissing each other as if they never stopped.

They lie back against the pillows and Louis tries not to be too much in his own head about it because it feels right even though this also feels a little strange. That’s to be expected he supposes because where he used to mostly rely on the sounds of his partner to know if he was moving in the right direction, he now has to tune in to other signs like the quick rise and fall of Harry’s chest as their kisses become more desperate and how much darker his eyes become when Louis slots their bodies together so that Harry feels his weight anchoring him in place.

So far, they’re just feeling each other out with Louis trying his best to keep himself in line despite how painfully hard they both are. Harry’s legs are wrapped so tightly around him that eventually Louis has to pause to remove his boxer briefs so there’s nothing but skin between them. He meets Harry’s eyes to silently ask if that was alright. Apparently, it was more than when Harry smiles and pulls him back down to leave a trail of dark bruises down the side of Louis’ neck.

It’s weird not being able to hear Harry’s breaths on his skin but he can feel their warmth. And, it’s strange not being able to tell if Harry is enjoying this as much as he is without pulling back every few minutes to sign something or try reading his lips in the dimly lit room. His nerves are at an all-time high when he’s opening Harry up so that the tight heat squeezing his knuckles begins to relax. Mostly, Louis is just worried about moving too fast or way too slow, but Harry’s facial expressions and silent moans reverberating in his chest help Louis judge when he’s ready for more.

Harry grabs a condom from his bedside table and Louis’ heart is back to pounding like a drum as he rolls it on. He tells himself over and over not to be nervous as he reclaims his position over top of Harry. However, the only thing that truly calms his mind is the soft kiss Harry presses to his lips and the firm grip of their hands as Louis eases his hips forward.

Once Louis is inside of him, a lot of what he does is just experimentation. He learns pretty quickly how to read Harry and his body. Nails digging into his back paired with a frown when they’re first getting started; bad, so he backs off and paces himself. Nails digging into his bum while Louis’ fucking him at an angle; good, so he does it harder and faster until his skin stings.

Every move he makes is based purely off of physical cues and eye contact as communication which is new for Louis. It’s also intensely intimate with them practically face-to-face the entire time and Louis resisting the urge to let his eyes flutter closed from how good it feels. He has never been this close with anyone before; witnessing every spark of pleasure flickering in his eyes and feeling every beat of his heart increase as he’s brought closer and closer to his limit. Each time Harry’s mouth falls open and he throws his head back, Louis wonders what kind of noises he’s punching out of him.

It’s the only missing piece of the full puzzle Louis is used to as Harry’s chest flushes red and his grip around Louis becomes so deep that Louis’ sure he’s breaking the skin. Either way, Louis doesn't need his hearing to tell that Harry's getting close. Louis can see it written all over the taut lines of his body and the ragged rhythm of his breaths on Louis' skin. It’s all just motivation to get Harry as close to the edge as possible just to witness the beauty of finally pushing him over it. When he comes, the word fuck is the only one Louis can discern from the nonsense Harry is babbling as his whole body tenses. He muffles whatever noise rips out of him into Louis’ neck where the vibrations from it tingle his skin better than any song he’s ever heard. And no, Louis couldn’t hear it, but he for sure imagined it, coming just seconds later as a result.

Louis is still panting against the sweaty chest beneath him when Harry removes his nails from his skin, leaving little crescent-shaped marks that Louis can feel pleasantly stinging just above the swell of his bum. When he’s able to move, Louis uses his arms to push himself up enough to see the big, blissful grin on his boyfriend’s face. His dimples have never been deeper as Louis gently thumbs over them.

That’s a pretty good indicator that the sex wasn’t too bad, though Louis can’t help but wonder. He hates that little voice in his head that didn’t even used to be there before his accident, but he gives into it anyway, sucking up his pride to ask his boyfriend if he sucks at sex now that he’s deaf and he went nearly a year without having any at all.

“So, I guess- I guess it was alright then?”

Harry blinks his eyes open from where he was clearly about to drift off for a nap. His brow furrows as he pushes himself up on his elbows enough to look down at the mess he made when he came so hard he managed to get it all over their chests.

“ _Seriously?_ ” he laughs before fondly rolling his eyes and pulling Louis into a kiss to reassure him.

And, okay. Clearly, Louis did something right tonight. Maybe even a few things.

Louis has no idea where he is. Somewhere far from the city based on the rolling hills and trees going by as nothing but a blur outside the car. He’s on some kind of holiday road trip since his and Harry’s bags are stuffed in the back along with a box-full of snacks they’ve eaten half of. He can hear the car’s engine and the tires against the highway, and the sun feels amazing where it’s shining through the open sunroof. He’s also buzzing because shuffle just stopped on ‘ _Shut up and Dance_ ’ and he can make out every word. He turns up the volume so loud that it totally drowns the sound of the wind whipping past them, and even Harry screaming the lyrics into the steering wheel like a maniac. Louis can’t stop laughing because from the looks of it, he doesn’t actually know the words, but it’s hilarious and fun. And, for those reasons alone, Louis joins in and starts screaming too.

The sunshine from the road trip almost seems real when Louis opens his eyes to the sun streaming into a room he doesn’t immediately recognize because it’s not his own. It doesn’t take him long to remember where he is when he looks to his right and sees his road trip partner drooling in his sleep.

His hearing dreams aren’t nearly as disorienting as they were nearly a year ago. Louis accidentally threw himself out of bed several times in the beginning due to the shock of going from total sound to total silence in the amount of time it took him to go from a deep sleep to being wide and painfully awake. The worst were the vivid dreams about his accident, but thankfully, he’s more adjusted now. His hearing dreams don’t scare him or confuse him much anymore. Mostly they make him grin because they’re kind of like memories even if they’ve never actually happened. Kind of like the dream he just had about a road trip to nowhere. He doesn’t always have hearing dreams though. These days, his dreams are mostly silent or in sign language, and they almost always feature his boyfriend who strangely enough never really talks in his hearing dreams. Louis suspects the reason for that is tied to when Harry came into his life. Because if his hearing dreams really are based off of what he remembers before becoming deaf, unfortunately, he has no memories of Harry's voice because they hadn’t met yet.

Harry’s mouth is hanging open as he frowns in his sleep and it makes Louis smile because he has absolutely no idea what the adorable idiot lying next to him sounds like. That doesn’t necessarily bother Louis because he has no clue about anyone’s voice he’s met this year. He does wonder though. Especially about his boyfriend who’s pretty fucking perfect in every sense Louis can think of. It’d be a crime against nature if his voice wasn't equally as perfect.

Drooling and naked Sleeping Beauty finally cracks open his eyes a few minutes later, sporting a wide, sleepy grin when Louis is the first thing he sees.

Harry manages to sign half of a good morning before he’s yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When he’s done, he tries the greeting again and actually succeeds. “ _Good morning.”_

Louis signs it back, watching his boyfriend do his whole cute yawn and eye-rub routine for a second time, unable to stop himself from asking the one thing he’s most curious about.

“ _What do you sound like?_ ” he asks, propping himself up on his elbow to watch Harry laugh and blush at the same time. “ _Come on! Please?_ ” Louis begs, giving him a poke in the dimple and his ribcage to make him comply. “ _Tell me who you sound like! I bet it’s someone hot, whoever it is.”_ Louis is almost sure of it. That’s how he knows Harry’s full of shit when he answers him a few seconds later by finger spelling _‘Mickey Mouse’._

“You do not!” Louis snorts. “ _Be serious_. _I want a visual_.” Or an audial more like.

“ _Alright, alright_ ,” Harry concedes. “ _Antonio Banderas_.”

That makes Louis laugh even harder than picturing Harry saying his name all this time like a cartoon rodent. “ _He’s from Spain.”_

“ _Oh, damn, that’s right. My mistake,_ ” Harry signs as if he didn’t already know that. “ _David Attenborough_?”

“ _You are RUINING sex for us_ ,” Louis teases. That’s impossible of course, but he loves seeing Harry laughing at his own jokes.

“ _Well, who do YOU think I sound like then?_ ” Harry asks him complete with a retaliatory poke in the ribs.

Louis has thought about that question a lot. Whenever he thinks of Harry, he thinks of his genuine kindness and warmth that people can’t help but be drawn to, so his words are probably just as welcoming. He’s not overly threatening or intimidating, so Louis can’t imagine his voice would be any different. Just the opposite probably because Harry is patient and gentle. He’s also strong, and whenever Louis thinks of him, mostly, he thinks of home and how comforting it can be to come back to. That’s a lot to wrap up into a single voice. It’s also impossible for all of that to be expressed in the way a person speaks, but it’s all Louis has to go on so in his mind, it works.

He never does answer Harry’s question, he just grins at all the different soundbites he’s made up in his head. Anyway, at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter because Harry sounds like himself so it’s perfect regardless. And, if Louis’ curiosity ever becomes too great, he can always ask someone hearing to describe it like Bebe or any of his sisters.

“ _We should probably get up_ ,” Louis announces since Harry has work soon and Louis has to get home and dressed before a lesson and then the museum. They can’t lie around too long even though he’s tired after last night and he’d much rather stay in bed. Clearly, Louis isn’t the only one not ready to go their separate ways when Harry bites down on a mischievous grin that Louis quite likes the look of.

“ _Well, we don’t have to right this second, do we?”_ Harry asks, making Louis sport a mischievous grin of his own.

“ _Go on_.”

“ _Well_ , _my first student won’t even show for half an hour after I get there, and Niall’s usually running a few minutes late for your lessons anyway.”_ That’s true. Between Niall stopping to chat with everyone on the planet before their lessons and Louis stopping to flirt with Harry, their sessions rarely start on time. _“We can afford just a few more lazy minutes, right?”_

Lazy time sounds heavenly.

“ _We’ll just say something... came up,_ ” he wiggles his eyebrows.

“ _I don’t know if we have THAT much time,”_ Harry says, though his gaze longingly trails over Louis’ bare skin like he wishes that weren’t the case _._ He’s still grinning when he meets Louis’ eyes and begins chewing at his bottom lip. “ _Actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about...”_ he signs after a long pause.

That's usually not a very fun sentence. If it weren’t for how giddy and hopeful Harry looks right now, Louis would actually be worried.

“ _Okay,_ ” Louis snorts at his clear excitement about whatever this is about. “ _What’s up?_ ”

“ _Want to have dinner with my mum? I sort of promised I’d bring you over soon and she sort of promised to kill me if I don’t_ ,” he signs practically in one big and fast motion. “ _Save a life by eating lasagna and listening to hundreds of embarrassing stories about me?”_

Louis can do more than helping Harry avoid being murdered by his mother because Louis is happy to finally get to meet her.

“ _Name the day and I’ll be there,”_ he promises, stomach fluttering like mad when Harry wiggles to his side of the bed to thank him with a kiss.

When he pulls back his eyes are so relieved and happy. As if Louis _wouldn’t_ want to meet the woman who means so much to him and who raised such a lovely son.

“You’re amazing,” his lips say soundlessly. Louis rarely blushes, but that makes Louis grin and blush so hard that he desperately needs to change the topic, turning the tables on Harry who usually blushes at the drop of a hat.

“Well, what _I_ want is to hear more about these embarrassing stories,” he demands, only for his boyfriend to veto the idea as he starts speculating different weird things Harry might’ve done as a kid.

“ _Nope!_ ” he signs with a smug smile. “ _That’s what Saturday is for_.”

Louis fondly rolls his eyes at being shut down, but his smirk soon returns because embarrassing childhood stuff isn’t his only recourse to make him blush.

 _“_ So... what’s the sexy story with you and Zayn?”

He knows there has to be one because there’s a friendly, yet sort of weird energy between them sometimes. And then of course there was that one hilarious time when Harry thought Zayn and Louis were into each other and it was hard to tell if Harry was crazy jealous seeing them together, or just really turned on; possibly both. As if to confirm Louis’ suspicions, no sooner is the question out of Louis’ mouth is Harry rolling over to hide his tomato red face into his pillow and presumably groan into it.

_Bingo._

“Wow. That good, huh?” Louis teases. He receives no answer of course, but that’s okay because thanks to Harry’s brilliant plan, they have nowhere to be for the next fifteen minutes. Technically, they have the time to chat about _anything_. Anything at all. _“_ So, was it the tattoos that did you in, or...?” No real answer, just Harry’s ear going an even brighter shade of red. It was definitely the tattoos. And he was definitely turned on.


	9. Chapter 9

Late Saturday afternoon, a series of knocks outside Harry’s flat make him finally stop fussing with his hair in the mirror and sport a big smile because his favorite person in the world has arrived. These days, Louis is over at his more days out of the week than not, so he never knocks. However, Harry understands all the fanfare when he opens the door to find his boyfriend smiling behind it looking incredible with a fresh haircut as well as a fresh bouquet of pink roses.

“For you,” Louis says, chuckling at how quickly Harry takes the flowers from him and then immediately leans in to kiss him hello.

They saw each other just this morning after spending all night together as well. Somehow, that still left room for Harry to miss him like crazy.

Harry pulls back to find Louis all happy and smiley and looking a bit dazed from such a warm welcome. “ _Missed you_ ,” Harry signs.

Louis returns the greeting out loud rather than signing it. Harry realizes why when Louis removes his left arm from behind his back to produce yet another beautiful bouquet; this one, crisp white chrysanthemums.

“ _Oh my God, Lou!_ _They’re gorgeous!_ ” Harry gushes only for his boyfriend to wince seconds later with a sheepish ‘ _I’m glad you think so because they’re for your mum’._

“... _And,_ _I totally knew that_ ,” Harry snorts. He totally did not know that. However, it makes a lot of sense that Louis would bring extra flowers given Louis’ slight nerves about tonight. It’s also incredibly sweet of Louis to think of his mother. “ _She’s going to love them_.”

“Yeah? Sure hope so,” he says on a shaky exhale.

It shouldn’t be, but his boyfriend’s genuine concern that his mother might take one look at the bouquet and turn him away is comical. Harry’s mother is so excited to meet Louis that _she’s_ been the nervous one. She called Harry an hour ago just to ask if it’d be too much to break out the expensive holiday dish set that Harry and Gemma rarely even get to use unless it’s Christmas. The only thing that should concern Louis about tonight is his mum forbidding him from ever leaving once he gets there. 

Harry reassures him by leaning in once more to capture his lips. “ _They’re perfect,”_ he grins. “ _She’s going to love the flowers AND you.”_ How could she not?

The first time Harry met Louis’ family, he was a nervous wreck which, at the time, made no sense. They weren’t even dating then. Louis’ family was just coming to the learning center for a group lesson, but their opinions of Harry mattered so much to him. Neither of them voiced it, but that day was huge for them. The same rules apply for dinner tonight so it’s no wonder Louis’ grip around Harry’s hand gets a little tighter when they arrive outside Harry’s childhood home.

Harry squeezes back before placing his free hand over the doorknob, only turning it after Louis gives a sure nod.

The soft creaking of the old hinges and the motion sensor above the door alerts everyone in the house to their arrival. Almost as soon as Harry steps inside, he’s met by Gemma and Michal, and ambushed by his mother whom he hasn’t seen in weeks. She makes sure to point that out after hugging him and then playfully pinching him on the arm.

“ _Hey!_ _That kind of hurt_ ,” Harry complains only for his mother to face him with the same evil smirk that Gemma wears whenever getting revenge. Luckily, Harry and his recent absence from home aren’t the focal point tonight. It’s the man standing next to him with his most charming grin pasted onto his face.

Harry gets so swept away just thinking about how cute Louis is when he’s nervous that he almost forgets it’s his job to introduce him. He’s just about to do so, however before he can even open his mouth to speak or raise his hands to sign, his mother takes matters into her own hands. Literally, wrapping Louis in an embrace that causes a relieved and sunny smile to break out on his face.

Gemma and Harry exchange wide-eyed and amused looks over their heads because their mother has always been a hugger. She’s usually able to control it a bit better around strangers. But, maybe that’s why she’s not bothering with formalities. In this house, there are no strangers; just family, and as of this moment, that includes Louis. 

Nearly half an hour later and the chrysanthemums are arranged in a vase and displayed on the kitchen table they’re all sitting around.

It’s a little surreal being in a place that he has been a million times before and finding that tonight feels totally different. For as long as Harry can remember it has been him, his sister, and his mother. For years it was the three of them plus Harry’s late stepfather, and then of course more recently, their trio expanded to include Michal. Harry never felt left out in either of those situations, but never really felt whole either. Not like he does with Louis at his side.

The five of them are doing more chatting than eating as they all get to know Louis better and Louis gets to know them. Even more surreal than having his charming boyfriend here and being his amazing self is the fact that he’s able to do so while looking so fucking confident and comfortable in his own skin.

It feels like Louis was always meant to be here with how naturally he falls into their signing rhythm and communication patterns. Seeing Louis here versus his own house or even the pub is like night and day because they’ve been a hearing/deaf household since Gemma was born. Everything here operates in her and Louis’ favor, but Louis’ family is getting there. They’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time and then of course there’s Louis and his unbelievable accomplishments. He’s managed to go from not even knowing how to sign his own name to becoming so fluent he hardly ever pulls out his phone anymore or looks to someone else for help. In less than a year, he was able to do all of that so there’s no telling what he’ll achieve moving forward. In a few months, he probably won’t even need lessons anymore.

Oftentimes, Harry doesn’t even notice when his mind has gone full Louis mode and he has zoned out while admiring him. He has missed quite a bit of the conversation thinking about how far his boyfriend has come, however Harry’s focus is quickly pulled back to dinner when Louis’ accident is referenced in the middle of him talking about something else.

Louis was the one who was regaling the table with a funny story about Doris and Ernest from before he was deaf, so all eyes are on him when he suddenly stops and his brow furrows like he has lost his train of thought.

Instinctively, Harry reaches over to give his hand a light squeeze because in all the time that they’ve known each other, Harry hasn’t heard much about Louis’ accident and neither has anyone else.

Harry isn’t even sure what kind of accident it was; only that it resulted in a traumatic injury that affected Louis’ hearing so much that he eventually lost it. It’s not like it’s something Louis needs to bring up all the time because he has a physical reminder of it that’ll probably never fade. His scar is usually hidden behind his shaggy fringe, however it’s more visible whenever his hair is cut short like it is tonight. That scar is such a part of him that Harry doesn’t even notice it anymore, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t painful to think about how much Louis’ life changed because of it.

It is Louis’ experience and his memory to share if and when he wants to. He doesn’t have to share it at all if that’s what he chooses. Harry is just about to assure his boyfriend of that when Louis squeezes his hand back and then releases it before picking up where he left off; the night that changed everything. 

“ _Love,_ _you really don’t have t-,”_ Harry’s mother begins but Louis politely waves her off.

“ _No, it’s okay. I don’t mind_ ,” Louis assures everyone, but Harry knows this is a big deal for him even if he wants to portray the opposite. However, it seems important to Louis to finally talk about this, so Harry gives him a grin of encouragement and then listens as intently as everybody else as Louis begins signing and speaking simultaneously. 

It’s incredibly difficult to see and hear him recount the night some idiot hit him in the middle of a crosswalk and was too cowardly to even stop and check if he was alive before speeding off. It angers Harry to think of all the things that could’ve happened if someone hadn’t called an ambulance when they did, because that accident could’ve resulted in something much worse than a concussion and a fractured ankle. Frankly, Louis is lucky to still be here at all, and, God, is Harry glad that he is.

Louis tells the story like someone recalling the details of a bad dream, but his voice never falters. By the end of it, his grin is back in place and he looks lighter than ever without that night weighing him down. And, yes, Harry always knew Louis was amazing and resilient and strong. Harry could see that in him from day one, however it wasn’t until tonight that he realized how incredibly brave his boyfriend is too. They’re just more things to add to the very long list of things Harry loves about him.

What happened to Louis was awful and the aftermath of it took so much from him. When he finishes talking, Harry’s mother is displaying a range of emotions on her face from rage to disbelief. Eventually, she settles on empathy for all he went through.

“ _Louis, I am so sorry_ ,” she tries, but once again, Louis gives a polite, unbothered shrug.

“ _No_ , _don’t be_. _It wasn't your fault. And, anyway, it wasn’t all bad,”_ Louis grins. He signs it and says it out loud for the benefit of everyone in the room, however the only person he’s looking at while doing so is Harry.

How Louis chooses to view such a pivotal moment in his life is up to Louis. More than anything, Harry wishes he would’ve never had to go through all that he has, but on the other hand, those experiences have made Louis into the person he is. And even though Harry’s sure the two of them being together is no mistake and that they would’ve eventually ended up here no matter the circumstances, Harry is so glad and eternally grateful that out of all the language classrooms Louis could’ve been placed in, fate chose his.

The fluttery sensation in Harry’s stomach after having his boyfriend look at him that way sticks around long after dinner, dessert, and the naked baby photos that Harry was sure would make an appearance at some point. Even now after the two of them have said goodbye for the evening and have gone back to their respective homes, Harry’s still smiling.

He can’t stop thinking about how his heart skipped a beat just knowing Louis is as grateful for their paths crossing as he is. In another life, it’s possible they wouldn’t have even met. God knows there are a dozen awful scenarios that could’ve resulted from Louis’ accident. Harry tries not to think about that much. Mostly, Harry just thinks about how insanely lucky he is to have Louis in his life.

At the moment, he has Louis more figuratively than literally since Louis’ not physically here with him. However, Harry can’t be too upset at Louis choosing to spend the rest of his evening at home because lately, Doris and Ernest haven’t seen as much of their big brother as usual. He owes them a night of all the movies, sweets, and pillow forts they can fit in. And, honestly, Louis sounded just as excited about it as them, so it’s good that Louis is taking time to be with them. Even so, Harry’s allowed to miss him a little. Or a lot.

Any other time, Harry would simply text or FaceTime him. He wants to do that now, but he resists the urge to interrupt his family time. However, there are other temporary fixes. Louis’ old Instagram for one. Or rather, his not-so-old, recently active Instagram because the photographs of Louis out with his friends from over a year ago are only visible if Harry scrolls down the page. In their place now are several recent photos of Louis and all the people in his life that he has obviously decided to share again with the world.

There are pictures of all kinds of things that Harry never even noticed his boyfriend capturing like silly selfies of him and Niall on pub nights, or Harry’s flour-covered bum the evening they bravely attempted ciabatta. Naturally, the accompanying photo is a picture of their loafs that looked more like hard pancakes than actual bread. There’s a picture of the twins practicing their signing together, and one of Louis and Bebe playing around in the butterfly dome at work. Probably Harry’s favorite photo of all is the photo of himself lying on the sofa after the concert they went to on their first date. They stayed up practically that whole night, so Harry can only imagine the time of morning it was when Louis pulled out his phone to snap a picture of Harry curled into his chest.

Harry can’t see his own smile, but he’s sure it’s blinding from how warm that picture makes his heart. The two of them take random pictures of each other all the time because sometimes a moment is just too hilarious or cute to pass up. He just didn’t know Louis cherished those small moments so much that he’s started posting them again. It’s like night and day the things Louis chose to feature from his life prior to his accident and the things he considers most important now. That makes sense because his life has changed a lot. _Louis_ has changed a lot, even in the amount of time Harry has known him. Based on these new pictures, there is even a difference in Louis’ smile from a year ago. It’s now bigger and brighter than ever before which leaves Harry and everyone else in his life no choice to but be incredibly proud of how far he has come.

It’s still family night which means Louis probably isn’t anywhere near his phone. That also means that if Harry likes or comments on a photo – _or all of them_ , the notifications won’t bother him. That may or may not actually be true, but Harry goes with it anyway, unable to stop himself from going through and liking all two hundred and twelve posts that he couldn’t like back when their relationship was strictly professional. He doesn’t comment on all of them of course, just the ones that are particularly hot or funny. However, that clearly was a few too many, because a minute later, Harry’s phone starts vibrating with a new FaceTime call from none other than the admired man himself. Oops.

Harry answers and then frowns because for a moment he can’t really see much on Louis’ end because the room is pitch black aside from the glow from the tv. Eventually, he’s able to make-out his boyfriend’s face where he’s sitting on his living room floor. And, also, the twins passed out on the sofa right behind him. So, Harry wasn’t interrupting after all. Good to know. Now, Harry can’t bring himself to feel too guilty for making his boyfriend call him when he’s so clearly amused.

“What the actual fuck?” he whispers through a snort of laughter. “You should see my notifications. You stalking me, Styles?”

Harry turns on the lamp next to him to make sure Louis can see his hands and lips. _“Only a little,”_ he replies with a smirk that makes Louis snort again.

“Hang on a second,” he whispers before the screen starts moving along with Louis who stands up from the floor. He starts walking and Harry gets a quick tour of the rest of the living room and the entryway of the house before finally, Louis stops in the kitchen. “Okay, this should be better,” he says at more normal volume as he sits down at the table.

The light is much better there so Harry can make out all the details of Louis’ crinkled eyes and smile.

“You just liked every photo I’ve ever posted in the span of ten minutes.”

“ _So,_ _maybe I did_. _That’s not weird_ ,” Harry shrugs.

“Yeah, for serial killers maybe,” Louis teases.

It’s possible Harry got a little trigger happy with the likes and comments, but what else can be expected of him when he misses Louis so much.

“ _So, did pillow forts go well?_ ”

“Yeah, _too_ well,” Louis chuckles. “I’m getting old. I’m just as tired as they are.” He looks pretty tired, his eyes going soft with a yawn into the back of his hand.

“ _Missed you_ ,” Harry admits after a while of them just grinning at one another.

“Really? I couldn’t tell,” he jokes, however he replies immediately afterward with a soft ‘ _Missed you too_.’

It’s late, so Harry isn’t surprised when Louis yawns a few minutes into their call and announces he should probably get the twins to bed and then follow suit.

“ _Okay_ ,” Harry nods understandably. “ _Have a good night. Sleep well_.”

“You too,” Louis says. “See you tomorrow. Love you.”

Harry was just about to hang up, so he almost misses it. They’ve never said those words to each other besides the day Harry taught Louis to sign them, however the feeling and intent behind them has always been there regardless. Maybe that’s why it feels so easy and right when Harry smiles at the love of his life and confidently says it back.


	10. Chapter 10

_Two Months Later_

The first thing Louis does when he wakes up is reach out to feel the other side of the mattress. It’s an instinct because usually Harry is lying beside him. Unfortunately, that’s not the case this morning since Harry spent the night looking after his mother who just had a couple of wisdom teeth removed. It is a little weird waking up without him since they spend most nights together, however wisdom tooth surgery trumps Louis missing his boyfriend any day, so he’ll just have to deal. Plus, Louis finds it incredibly sweet that Harry took off a day of work to make soup and keep Anne company while she recovers. Harry’s thoughtfulness and giant heart are just a couple of his many amazing qualities that Louis falls a little more in love with every day.

Since Louis’ hands come up empty when he stretches to his right, he reaches for his phone instead and scrolls through the last messages they sent to one another last night before they passed out. He smiles as he reads Harry’s sleepy ramblings about needing to wake up earlier than usual to make Anne take her pain medication. He set an alarm so he’d get up first thing which means he probably went back to sleep right after and is still asleep right now. He’ll need his rest for work later on, so Louis doesn’t call him. He does however send him a quick text to tell him good morning, that Louis loves him, and to have a good day.

It’s been a while since Louis has had to get ready for work from home. At least a month has gone by since Louis last slept here, so he feels a little out of sorts with a lot of his things still at Harry’s place. A simple solution would be to bring everything back here where it technically belongs, except nothing about that option sounds particularly appealing to Louis. In many ways, Harry’s flat feels just as much like home as his mother’s house, so it feels counterintuitive to move his things _away_ from Harry’s flat where Louis now spends so much of his time.

Maybe he’s jumping the gun a little by entertaining the idea of him and Harry moving in together officially. Or, perhaps the timing’s just right given all the big changes already taking place like Louis’ time at the learning center coming to an end soon; this week even as crazy as that is. Either way, he won’t and he can’t decide anything this second. Potentially moving out is definitely a conversation that needs to be had at some point. But, for now, Louis has breakfast to get downstairs to and a kid’s science museum to help run.

Once he’s in the kitchen along with the rest of his family, he heads straight for the countertop next to the stove where all the bacon is cooling. He moves to steal a piece of it, scoffing aloud when his mother slaps his hand out of the way.

“ _Your sister already stole two pieces. Any more hungry thieves and they’ll be none left,”_ she chastises, but the fond glint in her eyes proves she’s not really bothered. After all these years, Louis is convinced she actually enjoys them all driving her mad in the mornings.

“ _Why am I the one being punished for something Lottie did?_ ” Louis signs and says back, however as soon as he does, a playful shove from behind forces him to whip around to see his attacker. It’s Lottie of course, smirking at him because she has the worst poker-face face on Earth second only to his boyfriend.

“ _And who says it was me?_ ” she demands.

“ _It’s always you,”_ Phoebe signs as she passes by them under the illusion of getting orange juice, but really she’s just after _Louis’_ piece of bacon which she artfully nicks from the plate somehow _without_ being slapped. Typical.

His family then launches into a debate about no one ever suspecting Phoebe of anything because she’s so nice, which just means she gets away with more stuff like successfully stealing bacon. It’s a conversation that bleeds into the story of the time they all freaked out because they thought they accidentally forgot a four-year-old Phoebe at the park, but she actually meant to get left behind because someone broke one of her toys days prior so she wanted to make a show of ‘running away’.

It’s one of their favorite stories to look back on and laugh at. They’ve been reminiscing on it for years now, so it’s a classic that they all know well. The most hilarious part of their classic family stories used to be listening to everyone yelling over each other to try and tell it ‘the right way’. For a while, Louis lost that, but over the months, he has slowly gained it back because they no longer tell stories that way. Now, they each take turns signing different bits of the story until it’s finished meaning four-year-old Phoebe’s attempts to ‘teach them all a lesson’ is still fucking hilarious and amazing. Only now, Louis doesn’t have to struggle to keep up or get left out completely because everyone speaks his language and they speak it pretty well considering.

He still can’t believe it sometimes. That his family can hold whole conversations in sign language while hardly missing a beat. That this is really his life now and it isn’t some dream, because a year ago, none of it seemed possible. A year isn’t very long at all, but in that time, Louis has gone through hell, almost let it defeat him, and then somehow came out on the other side of it. It wasn’t without help of course. Yes, Louis had to make the decision to not let his accident define him and destroy his life. But, there were so many other people cheering him on too. Of course, the loudest cheerleader of all was Harry; the one person missing from all his favorite people currently sitting around the kitchen table.

Thinking of Harry always causes Louis to zone out a little. He never even realizes when he’s doing it or when he’s thinking of Harry in the middle of other important things going on, so he misses his mother trying to get his attention across from him.

“ _How are you feeling, love?_ ” she asks for a second time amid his siblings arguing over the last of the bacon.

At first, Louis isn’t sure what she means because he’s feeling perfectly fine. Then, his mother clarifies that she meant how is he feeling about Friday.

They haven’t discussed it much, but Louis graduating from signing lessons is a pretty big deal though his time at the learning center has been dwindling for a while now. Currently, he only has lessons with Niall once per week on Fridays. And, thanks to Violet being the amazing audiologist that she is, he no longer has speech therapy at all. After this week, he won’t be having anything anymore because it will be his last and he’s not quite sure how he feels about that. That place gave back to him so much of what he lost and more. He got back the ability to communicate with people. He got back connection, confidence, music, friends, and he even managed to find the person he wants to be with for the rest of his life. Ultimately, those long, quiet corridors are where he found happiness. Leaving the place that restarted it all feels like a really big moment because it is. But, even though it’s coming to a close, it’s a chapter that feels like it’s only just beginning rather than ending.

Friday comes so much faster than Louis expected it to, but that’s what always seems to happen when avoiding something hard. Walking into the learning center that day weighs a lot heavier on Louis’ chest than he thought it would given that he has mostly come to terms with this goodbye. It just feels a little surreal realizing he probably won’t be back here again. At least not as a student. And, sure, he’ll be here in a heartbeat if ever Harry or Niall needs him for something, but it’ll never be the same and that’s a little tough to think about.

On the way upstairs, he bypasses Harry’s classroom where a group lesson is currently going on between him and three six-year-olds that Harry talks about all the time because their signing has improved so much in such a short amount of time. The door is propped open, so Louis is able to steal a quick peek inside to see his boyfriend in the middle of telling a knock-knock joke he one hundred percent made up on the fly it’s so ridiculous. However, no one would be able to guess that based on how amused his students are as they all laugh. It makes Louis smile and fondly shake his head. He must laugh a little too because suddenly, Harry turns in his direction.

They lock eyes and Harry’s smile becomes even bigger, albeit a little shy from being caught mid-joke. Louis would tease him as per usual, however he’s working at the moment and Louis does have his final lesson to get to, so all knock-knock joke teasing will just have to wait.

Louis waves goodbye and exhales a small sigh before turning to head up to where Niall is waiting for him. He is still feeling a little weird about today, but the ‘ _I love you_. _Good luck,_ ’ Harry signs to him before he moves away from the door reassures Louis that he can do this.

That little boost in confidence was exactly what Louis needed because by the time he and Niall are halfway through their session, Louis is laughing and joking with him like usual. Their lessons have never been very formal. Generally, they spend the hour and a half session chatting about music, movies, memes, and whatever else they can fit in.

Every now and then Louis still encounters signs he has never seen before or different versions of words he doesn’t immediately recognize, so Niall helps out. And, whenever Louis can’t ask Niall, he has other fluent signers around him like Harry and Gemma and lots of others who never mind clarifying questions he has. Louis is lucky enough to have a whole network of deaf and hearing people around him as a support system. That’s way more than some deaf people have which is why today’s lesson will be Louis’ last. At this point, he has learned just about all he needs to learn from this place, so giving up his weekly slot means someone else gets to fill it. So, really, he can’t bring himself to be too choked up about leaving. It’ll truly be for the best.

Unfortunately, it’s a pretty busy day for everyone so the end of his lesson feels a little anticlimactic. Niall has another student coming in right after him, Harry’s got lessons through the rest of the day, and Louis has work to get to as well. However, even in the midst of all that, Niall and Harry don’t let him leave without his very own dinosaur eraser and sparkly pencil from the coveted treasure box. He also gets a big congratulatory hug from Niall, the promise of as many drinks as he wants tonight at the pub, and, last but not least, a deep kiss from the person who has been there for Louis since day one. All of that combined makes Louis feel like he just won the lottery rather than learning a new language, though it sort of feels like he has managed to do both.

When he walks into the museum, his desk is decorated with balloons courtesy of Bebe, and there’s even a graduation card there signed by his whole family. It’s much more than Louis ever expected for today, and he’s surprised yet again that evening when he walks into Harry’s flat to find his boyfriend elbow-deep in flour from making a giant batch of his now-famous lemon meringue cupcakes, which also happen to be Louis’ absolute favorite.

Harry is in the middle of icing the letters of ‘congratulations’ onto them when he glances up to see Louis grinning at him from across the room. He winces a bit as he smiles at Louis meaning something hasn’t gone quite to plan.

“ _I thought I’d be able to finish these before you got home but_... _SURPRISE!”_ he beams, making Louis’ heart flood with warmth because his boyfriend is so wonderful. And, also, and most importantly, because his boyfriend thinks of this place as Louis’ home as much as Louis does.

“ _Haz, you didn’t have to do all this,_ ” Louis tries as he walks over to the island, but of course Harry won’t have it.

“ _Huge accomplishments mean delicious cupcakes_. _Deal with it.”_

Louis snorts at his logic, however he can’t really argue with it.

“ _Alright, alright. I deserve them. Thank you_ ,” Louis says, leaning in and humming into their kiss over the island.

“ _You’re welcome_ ,” Harry signs with messy hands when he pulls back and licks over his lips that taste like sugar, lemon batter, and now, Louis. _“...I should finish up with icing if we’re going to leave soon_ ,” he adds after a quick glance at the time displayed on his phone along with the multiple messages from their friends who are already leaving for the pub. “ _I’ll just need to clean up a bit before we go,”_ he grins, gesturing at his apron that only caught part of the mess he made. _“We can also stop by yours if you need clothes or anything.”_

They could, but most of Louis’ stuff is here. That was the problem earlier in the week when Louis was at home. In the beginning, Louis made trips home all the time to grab extra clothes, his toothbrush, or whatever he needed to feel comfortable at Harry’s. Now, the opposite has happened, and Louis rarely needs to leave because most of the comforts of home are right here.

After his accident, so much changed so fast. Louis even gave up his flat to go back and live with his family. His mum’s house will also always be home no matter what, but the thing Louis is after isn’t necessarily a home, it’s belonging. And, the fact is, Louis is always welcome at his mum’s, but he doesn’t really belong there anymore. He thinks it is time he moved into a place of his own again, however he doesn’t want to do it alone.

“ _What if... I didn’t have to go back to mine for clothes?_ ” Louis asks, grinning at Harry’s, ‘ _Then we might be on time for something for the first time_ ever’. And, yes, that would be true. Except, Louis isn’t just talking about tonight. “ _I meant, what if I didn’t have to go back to mine ever_... _because I’d live here. With you_ ,” he clarifies, watching his boyfriend breathe a sharp inhale.

That’s either really good or really, really bad. And, since Louis didn’t exactly think through this whole moving in together conversation, he starts to fear he was a bit premature in bringing it up. They haven’t been together a full year and Louis is trying to skip all the way to domestic bliss.

“ _You think it’s too soon_ ,” Louis sighs. It probably is. He’s sure it is, but the timing is irrelevant to his boyfriend currently bouncing on his toes and smiling so big his cheeks are practically two giant dimples.

“I THOUGHT YOU’D NEVER ASK!” he exclaims, but Louis sees every word.

“Wait. You’ve been wanting me to move in all this time?” Louis asks incredulously. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“ _I thought I would be pressuring you!”_ Harry explains, back to signing now that he’s a bit more composed. “ _You’ve been through so much I thought the last thing you needed was me adding even more big changes to your life.”_

Out of all the new things and big changes this year, Harry is without doubt the best one.

“ _I’d be honored to live here with you, Haz. IF you’ll have me of course_. _Keep in mind,_ _I’ll still snore at night and I still can’t cook for shit_.” Louis smiles, not even needing a verbal or signed ‘yes’ from his boyfriend. The eager kiss Harry presses to his lips is answer enough. No words necessary.

That night at the pub, Louis is surrounded by all the friends, drinks, and lemon meringue cupcakes a language center grad could ask for. They usually meet up here on Saturday evenings, but given the occasion, everyone decided having two pub nights this weekend is the only solution.

It’s too cold to sit outside these days, so they’ve taken over the entire left side of the room closest to the bar. He’s sure their table is as loud as ever having a genuine excuse to celebrate besides the end of the work week and friendship. Of course, for Louis, it still feels like a celebration of friendship and people most important to him. So, it’s almost fitting that in between all the signed and spoken conversations and laughter going on, he glances across the room and spots a smaller group of people he immediately recognizes, because Louis used to be part of it.

He can’t even remember the last time he saw his old mates. Close to a year maybe? It doesn’t really matter he supposes, because when they all lock eyes nothing about it feels tense; just slightly surreal because things are starkly different from how they used to be.

Suddenly, Louis is hyper aware of everyone around him signing or wearing hearing aids or looking after their service dog. He’s also hyper aware of how fine he is with all of it and how at home he feels amongst them. A year ago, Louis could hardly even leave his house without being overwhelmed and completely drained from trying to fit into a world that he simply didn’t fit in anymore. He eventually found a new world though, and Louis must look pretty happy in it because when he grins and nods at his old mates, they each give Louis a kind grin and nod in return.

Louis can’t explain it, but that small moment of acknowledgment and mutual respect lifts a weight from his chest that he hadn’t noticed he’d been carrying around. Even though he has a new life, he always felt a little guilty leaving his old one behind. At one time, all Louis wanted was his old life back; to be over there with his mates across the room. He would’ve given anything to make it happen. And yet, Louis wouldn’t trade what he currently has for the world.

“ _You alright, love?_ ” Harry asks when he notices Louis grinning to himself.

“I’m great,” Louis smiles back as he leans into the kiss his official new flatmate presses to his temple, realizing that at the end of this crazy and unexpected journey, he’s right where he wants to be.


	11. Chapter 11

~*~

_One Year Later_

It’s Monday morning when Louis wakes up before either his or Harry’s alarm. He sits straight up in bed and grins because it’s sunny for the first time in a week, instantly improving Louis’ already perfect mood.

He’s never been more excited or nervous to go to work. He’s been looking forward to this day for months. Ever since he got the idea for a new exhibit at the museum and surprisingly, his boss loved it as much as him.

The idea for creating his The Science of Music and Sound exhibit sort of just came to him at a music festival he went to over the summer where the stage lights pulsed in time with the beat and the bass was so powerful and he could feel it in the air like the warm breeze on his skin. The way he and the other deaf people around him experience music is almost like an art form to Louis. He had to learn to hear it with other parts of himself besides his ears. It can be a difficult thing to try and explain to hearing people especially young people like Doris and Ernest. They finally understood once Louis stopped trying to explain it with words and let them feel it instead like he does through his headphones or seeing sound waves traveling through a tuning fork from Harry’s classroom. That was a huge moment for them and for Louis because his siblings realized that sound exists whether people hear it or not. They became genuinely interested in how sound works and learning about music in deaf culture. There is nothing Louis loves more now than showing them easy songs on the piano, and Niall is the coolest person ever in their opinion because he can play any instrument he picks up. They learned to experience sound in two ways and love both. All Louis wants is to help other kids do the same.

He’s way too antsy to wait around for his alarm to vibrate, so he crawls out of the bed and starts quietly rummaging through the wardrobe for the perfect first day as an exhibit manager outfit. Perhaps he wasn’t quiet enough because when he glances over his shoulder, his boyfriend is awake and smiling at him trying to decide between two different shirts.

“ _The maroon looks amazing against your skin. The dark blue brings out your eyes.”_

Compliments like that never fail to bring out the fluttering sensation in his stomach whenever Harry is being particularly sweet. They’re fluttering twice as hard today because he’s also a bit anxious about work. And, his boyfriend looks cute as always with his curls doubled in volume since the night before.

“Fuck. Sorry I woke you, babe,” Louis apologizes. When they first moved in together a year ago, Louis apologized for doing that a lot because when Louis shared a room with himself, it didn’t matter that he was kind of noisy. And messy, but that’s neither here nor there. For the most part he has learned to do things without disturbing his hearing boyfriend. But, given the circumstances of Louis starting his dream job, today will just have to be an exception.

“ _You didn’t wake me_. _I was already up_ ,” Harry claims.

Louis fondly rolls his eyes at that boldfaced lie because Harry was still drooling when he got out of bed. “Riiight. Sure you were,” he chuckles aloud since he’s still holding the two shirts in his hands.

He’s rarely this indecisive about clothes. He usually just goes with his gut, so he does the same thing now, tossing the dark blue shirt onto the foot of their bed for after his shower. Harry clearly agrees with his choice when he starts cheering and clapping from his side of the bed. Idiot.

Choosing a pair of jeans is a lot easier since Louis bought a new pair just for the occasion. When he tosses them next to the shirt, he feels himself grinning because Harry is still sat against the headboard just smiling at him.

“ _Nervous?_ ”

“ _A little_ ,” Louis admits. Teaching kids about sound waves all day will be a lot different than taking messages at the front desk, but Louis thinks he’ll be okay after the first day. Plus, he’ll have Bebe there if he needs anything so that’s comforting. Also, Harry and his mother are going to stop by the museum on their lunch breaks to see him in action, so he’s happy about that.

“ _Excited?_ ” Harry asks with a knowing grin. Louis can’t help but smile from ear to ear because he literally cannot wait to get to work today. He hasn’t been this excited since the butterfly dome was installed.

Getting back into bed seems a little counterproductive, but Louis can’t say no when Harry gestures for him to hop back in. Harry’s lips are warm against his once they’re both tucked under the covers again and cuddled into one another. Apparently, their cozy moment together is too short because after their kiss, Harry pulls the duvet over their heads to keep them both there a little longer.

It’s the calmest Louis has felt since waking up, the pride shining in Harry’s eyes making Louis feel like a success already.

“You’re going to be great, you know,” he says as Louis takes note of how his perfect lips form each word. “Your exhibit is going to be the most popular in the whole museum.”

Louis hopes so, but he’s got some pretty tough competition. “I’m not sure sound waves are as cool as the tropical caterpillars or the outer space exhibit, but yeah. A guy can dream, I guess,” Louis teases.

“They’ll love it, or else.”

“Or else... you’ll knock-knock joke them to death?” Louis guesses, unsure of how exactly how loud he yelps when Harry digs his fingers into his ribs for the sass. 

After Harry is done with his revenge, their mouths gravitate towards each other for another long kiss. The only thing that snaps them out of it is the feeling of the bed vibrating from Louis’ alarm meaning it’s officially time to get up.

“ _Nooooo!_ ” Harry complains. Louis laughs as he fights to pull away from him. “You don’t really need to shower for work, do you?”

“Um, I definitely do, and so do you,” Louis snorts. Harry is also meeting his sister for coffee soon and knowing her, she’ll show his bedhead curls no mercy. “Come shower with me. For the environment,” he tries, doing a fist pump when his boyfriend easily agrees.

“For the environment,” Harry vows even though they always end up using the exact same amount of water or more because they just stay in twice as long. They’ll just have to move at a quicker pace today which can’t happen if they never leave the bed.

“Race you!” Louis shouts, however, he doesn’t get very far before Harry’s pressing one more quick kiss to his lips.

“I’m so proud of you, Louis. Everyone is,” he says when he pulls back.

“Thanks, love,” Louis grins. The truth is, Louis is pretty proud of himself as well. He had no idea this is where he’d end up a year ago or even six months ago. Prior to becoming deaf, Louis never gave any thought to the science behind sounds. Now, it’s something he never gets bored of talking about, so really, his new job is perfect for him.

“I can’t wait to see everything you’ve been working on so hard.”

Louis can’t wait for him to see it either. He may be more excited to show Harry and his mother all the cool stuff he got to order than he is to show the kids.

That afternoon, Louis has just finished resetting everything in his exhibit space after a group of eight-year-olds ran around in it having the time of their lives when Bebe returns with his next group of kids in tow. These kids are even younger than the others. They can’t be more than six or seven years old which excites Louis because his sister and brother are around that age. The large group contains their teacher and a few parents who must be chaperones on the class trip. But, the thing that really excites Louis is seeing his mum and boyfriend slipping into the room too. 

“Alright, everyone! This is our next stop!” he sees Bebe announce to the entire group as she comes to stand next to Louis. They’re both working at the moment, so there are no playful shoves or nudges to the ribs between them. Just Bebe proudly beaming at Louis and her tour group as she introduces him.

It’s difficult for Louis to watch Bebe with his attention split between her, the tour group, and his mum and Harry standing at the back of the room gazing around the room in awe.

Everything from the giant interactive screens rippling from the sound waves in the room to the sound stations full of musical instruments and sound tools was chosen by Louis. He designed it all so kids who come to the museum get to experiment with how sound is made, how it travels, and how people can hear with more than just their ears. When it’s Louis’ turn to talk and answer questions, Bebe helps out by interpreting when someone says something or asks a question without looking directly at Louis. His job is pretty simple other than that. He quickly educates everyone about how sound is made and how it travels. Next, he demonstrates how to use the sound wave screens and other fun things in the room before turning the room to chaos for fifteen minutes by setting the kids free to go play and learn.

Usually, Louis would walk around to monitor everyone and make sure no one’s dead with Bebe and the other adults in the room. However, today, Louis has got some other people he needs to check in on. His two special guests who are currently having more fun than the kids, yelling at one of the floor-to-ceiling screens to see how big and far they can get the sound wave ripples to spread.

Louis startles them both when he yells louder than them and the ripples spread so far they brush the ceiling before theirs.

“ _I win_ ,” Louis signs when they turn around to face him looking prouder than ever.

Having them there on his first day means so much to him. There are easily two of the most important people in Louis’ life so all he ever wants is to make them proud. Since neither of them can stop gushing about how amazing of a job he has done here, Louis suspects he has more than achieved his goal. 

They’re both here on their lunch breaks so unfortunately, they can only stick around for a little while. His mother is the first to dismiss herself back to work since her hospital is further away than the learning center. Louis is a little sad to see her go, but he’s also thrilled to have had her here for such a big day. That leaves him with just Harry who claims he has a few more minutes to spare so he demands a private lesson in sound science.

He goes straight for the tuning forks which are pretty self-explanatory. They work by the person holding the end of one and tapping it against the rubber base to make them vibrate. Most of the forks have a frequency so high they seem to make no sound at all, but when they’re held over a bowl of water or submerged in the bowl the power from the sound waves make real waves. The higher the frequency the bigger the splash, which Harry uses to his full advantage as he turns the experiment station into a game of finding the combination of forks to make the biggest possible mess; payback for all the times Louis was the adorably annoying student in Harry’s classroom.

After a couple of minutes of splashing water on each other, Louis glances up and notices a little boy with glasses and dark hair standing far enough away to pretend he isn’t interested in the fork station, yet close enough that it’s obvious he wants to give it a try. Bebe is across the room yelling at the screen with a bunch of little girls, and the teacher and chaperone parents are busy watching over other stations where the boy’s classmates are clustered. No one is here to notice this little boy standing alone and Louis feels the instant urge to cheer him up.

“ _Be right back_ ,” Louis signs to his boyfriend before walking the short distance between them and the boy.

His name is Oliver, Louis finds out. He’s a little shy like Louis’ brother Ernest, but his eyes light up when Louis offers to show him how the forks work. He’s only slightly hesitant before he decides to join Louis and Harry. As promised, Louis personally shows him how to make the forks vibrate, intentionally choosing all the ones that make water splash in Harry’s face. Oliver finds that hilarious and his apprehension soon fades away to reveal a very bright and surprisingly talkative little kid behind all that shyness. Now, he reminds Louis a lot of Doris who comes off as quite serious sometimes and often amazes people with how clever she is. Louis even brought Doris and Ernest here throughout the process of designing this exhibit to make sure kids like both of them would actually enjoy a place like this.

Louis glances away from Oliver for a moment to find Harry watching them both. He’s wearing a soft grin; the same one he wears when Louis is with his siblings. His grin only goes softer when Oliver’s teacher walks over to check on him and she seems surprised to see Oliver having so much fun with Louis.

It’s hard to keep up with Oliver as well as the conversation Harry and the teacher are having. Louis misses out on bits and pieces because he can’t watch their mouths the whole time. He does manage to pick up on a lot of it though. Particularly, the part where the teacher mentions how great Louis must be with children to get a child as shy as Oliver to warm up to him so quickly.

Louis feels like that’s pretty true. His love for kids is why he works here and why he loves his role as a big brother so much. He always thought he’d enjoy being a dad someday too. After becoming deaf, Louis had a hard time imagining himself becoming a father anytime soon. He was barely even surviving the hearing world back then so he couldn’t really imagine himself with kids on top of everything else. Even so, he still clung onto the idea. He still thought he’d make a pretty decent dad even without his hearing, and he still thinks so now. It seems Louis may not be the only one who thinks so, suddenly realizing why his boyfriend always smiles so much when he sees Louis with children. He thinks Louis would make a decent parent someday too.

~*~

Six Years Later

Louis is snatched out of a dream he can’t really remember the details of besides the earthquake he was in the middle of when he suddenly woke up.

There was no sound that he can recall, however he’s still a little disoriented from being in such a deep sleep when he opens his eyes. His confusion only lasts a moment, his breathing leveling when his eyes adjust to make out the scared little girl standing over him holding a stuffed rabbit.

“Hey, baby,” he whispers as quietly as possible to keep from waking Harry still sleeping to his left.

It’s much darker than it should be this time of morning. It’s also raining and lightning like crazy outside of their window, so Louis’ sure it is thundering too. That would explain the random earthquake Louis was dreaming about. It would also explain why Sydney looks so anxious. She hates thunder. The sheer volume of it scares her no matter how many times Louis has tried explaining that thunder is nothing to be afraid of; just really big sound waves from lightning moving through the air.

‘ _Bad dream?’_ he signs. Sydney nods, her blonde curls bouncing when another big flash causes a giant boom to rattle the window and the bed.

Louis pulls back the duvet a little and she immediately climbs in. She fits perfectly under his chin as his little spoon. He wraps an arm around her and cuddles her in as he has a million times before, but it doesn’t feel right until Louis feels another, larger pair of arms wrap around the both of them from behind.

He thought their daughter had managed to sneak into their bed without waking his husband, but he doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, Harry seems more comfortable knowing she’s okay, pressing a kiss to the back of Louis’ head before tightening his grip around both of them.

Louis can tell when Harry and Sydney drift off again from Harry’s deep, even breaths ruffling his hair and their four-year-old’s belly rising and falling at about the same pace. It doesn’t take long for Louis to drift off too, happy to waste away every Sunday morning sandwiched between his two favorite people on Earth. And although he may not be able to hear the thunder or their soft snores, he can feel the love, which is really all that matters.

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about this fic for years at this point. With everything being canceled, I finally had time to write it.  
> Thank you SO, so much to Tabby who's the best and reads all of my stuff! 
> 
> And of course thanks for reading you are!! <3
> 
> There is now a fic post if anyone would like to reblog!  
> [ fic post](https://all-these-larrythings.tumblr.com/post/617843572464599040/it-feels-different-when-youre-with-me-by) <3


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